High Tide
by headoverheels208534
Summary: six years after Nessie's birth, only Edward, Bella and Nessie remain in Forks. The other Cullens have left and they will all reuinte after Nessie comes of age. In the meanwhile Jacob deals with pack drama. From the point of view of Jacob. Please R & R 3
1. Chapter 1

1. The Facts of Life

Blinding, something was shining on my face. I opened my eyes. Pleasantly to my surprise, I discovered I was outside. I was forced to squint, the sun was blazing in my direction. It had just reached the rim above the mountain tops but that was enough to rouse me from my slumber.

"Damnit"

I couldn't believe it. I'd fallen asleep outside of Nessie's house. Again. I needed to stop this habit of mine it was starting to become some sort of strange tradition. It felt perfectly normal sleeping outside in my wolf form, but I really needed to go home to my dad at night. He still worried about me when I didn't come home at night, the fact that I was a full grown male adult/werewolf didn't change his judgment. My dad should give me more credit and worry less. A man of his age shouldn't worry so much its not good for his health. If he did think I wasn't safe alone with vampires he was wrong, or so far he was wrong. It had been over six years and still I hadn't been attacked by Edward or Bella or Nessie. Actually Nessie tried to sneak tackle me every once and a while but that didn't count. When was my dad going to be able to trust them? I did.

Edward and I were somewhat aquanteces, I'd even venture to call us friends. He wouldn't hurt me and Bella she would never lay a finger on me. The mental image of her trying to attack me cracked me up. Then I remembered the time when she had actually lunged for me. The memory triggered the mental image of poor Seth jumping infront of myself to save me. Since then, Bella never tried to attack me. I knew she could attack me, if she really wanted, but she wouldn't. She was just Bella to me, even after her transformation into a bloodsucker.

Nessie must have heard me wake up because I saw and heard her rushing. Rushing back, from what I inferred was an early morning hunting trip. She made her way into the little clearing in front of the house. She stopped and waved to me from the opposite side of the clearing. I didn't respond to her motion.

"Jacob?", she asked confused pulling her eyebrows slightly together. She waved more slowly again this time.

I couldn't reply. I was still half asleep and dazed. I was dazed by her. Today was an uncommonly sunny day in Washington. It was not overcast nor gloomy. The sun was being reflected off her skin and made her shiny. She twinkled. I didn't know any better word to describe it. Her shine was not as obvious as the Cullen's. But whenever she stepped into the light she still had the same glow.

I brought myself back to reality and flashed her a grin.

"See you inside" She said still standing on the outer rim of the clearing.

She looked at me a little differently this time before she left. She did not seem like she was confused but I couldn't be sure. Her facial expressions were always maturing as she grew older. I had never seen this expression on her face before. A second after she saw me looking at her stare, she dashed into the cottage. That was strange. She usually would let me study her expressions. Nessie always wanted to share what she was feeling with me. I was going to follow her inside to take a deeper look into her weird behavior. But before I could even start after her, Edward took her place in the clearing where Nessie had stood less than second ago.

He greeted me, "Good morning Jacob."

There was no cheer in his voice or face when he addressed me. He had no expression. What was up with everyone today? I wondered if I needed a haircut. Maybe my hair was too shaggy that I started to become unrecognizable. It had been a long time since I'd cut my hair last. Actually I couldn't remember the last time I had cut my hair. I would need to cut my hair soon. I would make that a priority.

I nodded to him. Nodding was my typical greeting to most people. I was going to nod to Bella but she was no where to be seen. She wasn't in her usual spot, close to the left side of Edward. Where was she? Edward and Bella always arrived back from hunting together. I heard her running in the distance. She was still several seconds away. This was Interesting. Edward never ran faster than Bella he always slowed down to keep pace with her on trips. Maybe, my unruly hair was not the cause of the anomalous behavior today. First there was the stares, now Edward leaving Bella behind. That was absolutely an atypical action of his. His appearance did seem a little off-

"We decided to have to have a race today" Edward broke the silence with the answer to my thoughts.

That sounded suspicious. If he was trying to delude me into thinking that he was acting normal, he was wrong. Bella was nowhere near as fast as Edward. Edward knew that, he was untouchable to his wife. He must have known that . . .He did know that. Bella would know that too, so why would she agree to a race. Maybe Bella wanted to race to see if she could keep up with Edward, or to see the distance between their speeds. For whatever reason, I still thought the whole predicament was bizarre.

Bella made her way into the clearing. It had been maybe five seconds since Edward had first appeared. I wasn't a vampire expert but I was pretty sure five seconds was an extremely large margarine for vampire's speeds to vary. Edward must have been sprinting. Before I could continue to wander with my thoughts Bella spoke.

"You win." Bella said to Edward with a hint of disappointment behind her sheepish smile.

"Now, I believe you owe me a kiss." Edward said to Bella disregarding my presence.

"Okay, fine" Bella said reluctantly. She then leaned on to her tippy toes to give him a peck on the cheek.

"This is what we agreed on love. I suggested the loser buy the winner a new Bentley, but you wanted this. You wouldn't change your mind so-".

"I know. I know." Bella said shushing Edward midway through his argument. She saw me and gave me a cheerful "Hi Jake"

Her enthusiasm was real, unlike Edwards. I gave hear a smile. I actually wanted to talk to her. She was the only person not acting weird towards me. What a relief, now I knew I wasn't the cause of the unreadable stares. But Bella was used to my wolf form tame or shaggy, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Yeah, I would definitely cut my hair if it made people uncomfortable. It was kind of becoming a nuisance; I stepped on it the other day.

I glanced at Edward; he was still looking at me. This is just great. His face still looked expressionless but now his eyes almost looked thoughtful. Just as I was analyzing him more, he snapped his head upward and feigned watching a bird group of birds fly southward. The weirdo wasn't fooling me. Well, Bella did tell me that Bloodsuckers get distracted easily. Haha. When she told me that, I remember thinking that ADHD was a side effect of becoming a vampire. Edward must have been listening to me because I saw smirk come across his expressionless face.

"Jake, why did you spend the night out here? You know Esme had an extra room built for you." Bella said accusingly now.

I made a face. The thought of Esme caring about me still surprised me. She was a leech and I was a werewolf. She had 'my room' added onto the house before the Cullens left, she called it a "parting gift". I had used the room the first night it was presented to me but i didn't like it. The entire night I was on edge, it was too big and reeked of bloodsuckers. Overall, it was uncomfortable. I hadn't slept in "my room" since that night.

"Esme would be sad if she knew you didn't use the room" she said disapprovingly.

I don't care if her feelings get hurt I thought but then surprisingly I felt guilty.

"Jake she practically thinks of you as her son."

Ouch. If I didn't feel guilty before, I did now. I gave a little pleading howl.

Esme always was motherly towards "her kids" though they didn't need the extra care. She even was nice to the pack. She would always offer us food and drink when we stopped by the house. I never did anything kid towards her. I didn't deserve whatever love she felt towards me. She was a nice lady, even though caring for me went against her nature. It was wrong, backwards, and unconventional. But then again everything between the Cullens and I was unconventional. Our relationship went against the grain.

_Edward, tell Bella I'm gunna phase real quick so I can talk to her._

I rushed behind a tree and changed back. It was so easy to control myself.

"Okay Bella, I wasn't planning on sleeping outside last night but it just happened. I wasn't purposely avoiding sleeping in umm . . .my room". I said.

"Okay Jake I believe you. But why did you fall asleep outside?" she sounded a little concerned. Her eyebrows came slightly together.

Even though Bella was vampire, she was still was one of my best friends. I was glad she still showed me that she cared with the little things. The little things are the things that matter. She was still the same old Bella. The only difference was that she was a lot less fragile now.

"I don't remember. I think I was on my way to my dad's but I just crashed." , was my answer to her question.

"Okay well you should probably go check in with Billy. I'll see when you get back."

Then Bella zoomed away into the house after Nessie. I didn't need to check in with my dad. I was an adult. That comment ticked me off a bit but before I could dwell on it, my attention was diverted. Edward still remained in the clearing and his skin was almost blinding. I had to squint in order to see him.

Edward slowly made eye contact with me and calmly said, "Jacob may I have a word with you?"

"Um sure. What do you wanna talk about?" I said as I strode over towards him.

"Well I think you should give Billy a visit." He had the same expressionless look on his face but now I thought I saw pain in his eyes and his voice had maybe a hint of urgency.

"Why? Did something happen?" I said bewildered.

"I Think you should go and see yourself" His eyes were almost pleading now.

I looked towards the house. I wanted to be with Renesmee. She thought I would be walking in the door any second now. She probably was wondering where I was right now.

"Jacob I'll tell her. Now go." Edward said this with no hostility usually he hated it when I thought about Renesmee.

I nodded to him, and started walking away. When my pants were securely tied around my ankle, I phased and ran as fast as I could.

What the hell was Edward talking about? Was something wrong? Of course something was wrong, that's why he was acting so weird today. But still Renesmee. . .What if something happened to my dad? Or the Pack? I tried to listen but it was silent. All I heard and saw were the creatures and the forest as it blurred past me. It was silent; no one was in wolf form. Was that part of the reason why Edward had shoved me away today? What if something happened to Sam or Emily or Seth? Edward cared about Seth… maybe something happened to him. I let out a cry and tried to push my legs faster but they wouldn't push me any faster. Something had to of happened to Seth. Although Edward and Seth didn't hang out much, Edward still liked him. Edward and Seth once used to have a friendship. Edward liked Seth the best out of the pack. He said Seth had one of the purest and sincerest minds he'd ever heard. Sadly, that wasn't enough to keep them as friends. They slowly started to lose touch a few years back.

Seth used to come with me down to the Cullens all the time, in the beginning. But after a while, both of the friends realized they didn't have much to talk about besides sports. Seth and Edward didn't have much in common so they started to part. Seth gradually came less and less when most of the Cullens left. Edward might have gone down to visit Seth on the res, but he never did come down, due to the treaty of our ancestors. It really was a shame they lost contact, Seth was a good person and Edward was…they were both decent people.

Seth was like my little brother, I couldn't bare it if he was hurt. The entire pack couldn't bare it, whether it was physically pain or mental pain. If it was mental pain we couldn't do anything to help, but if it was physical pain we could try. If only Carlisle hadn't left. I know Carlisle and his family, with the exception of Bella, Edward, and Renesmee, moved away because Carlisle didn't look old enough to claim his age. In fact he didn't look old enough to have kids in college; he could pass a kid in med school trying to get his doctrine. It shouldn't have surprised me that they left. But when the whole Cullen clan was here it felt safer. The wolves had the Cullens backs and they had ours despite the proclivity to do the opposite. If they stayed the secret to their existence might be exposed. So naturally, they all moved far away somewhere. The Cullens continually had to keep up with their cover story. Man, if only they were here right now. Carlisle would be able to fix Seth if he was broken in any way, at least if it was physical. Another howl escaped my mouth.

I tried to calm myself down and thought about Renesmee. But I couldn't help but think about Seth. The last time Seth saw Renesmee was at her sixth birthday party. It had been two months since then. I remember him saying "Wow the years have flown by bro. One more year and she'll be all grown up, like us." Renesmee, grown up, I couldn't imagine that. It seemed like she was a little tot days ago, as opposed to years ago. She was growing up fast and I was not ready. Another thing I was not ready for was for the rest of the Cullens leaving. Bella and Edward hadn't left with the rest of Cullens because was because they wanted Renesmee to be full grown before they moved. Their departure date was closely approaching, would they really move away? Could they do that to me? I would follow them to the ends of the Earth, if they tried to leave with my Renesmee. In the beginning, I knew Edward and Bella hated the idea the idea of my imprinting on Renesmee but I thought they were over that. Couldn't they see that I had no choice and it just happened? Well whatever they decided to do, when she was turned seven, it wouldn't matter because I would follow her wherever she went.

I was almost to the house; I could hear people talking in the distance. There were a lot of voices. I guessed that the whole tribal council was there along with the rest of my brothers.

_Jake?_

_Qui?. What's wrong catch me up on the situation. _

_Well I just wanted to make sure you were on your way over. When I heard the howling I wasn't sure what you were up to. _

_Oh. Sorry Quil. I didn't mean to scare you._

Quil and the rest of the pack should be able to rely on their…Alpha. I hated saying that word. Never the less, I was the Alpha now. I never wanted to step up to the position but when I left the pack and Seth followed I became an Alpha. And now ever since Sam had tied the knot with Emily he had stopped changing into his wolf form. He had given it up entirely so he could grow old with Emily and start a family. Gradually he had started phasing less and less until he did it no more. By default I became Alpha, but never the less I was the Alpha. No one else could fill in for me.

_Jake its fine. And you're doing a great job as Alpha. Don't worry about. See ya soon._

Then I felt Quil disappear. Gosh, he had it all wrong. He shouldn't be comforting me. If anything, the Alpha should be the one comforting the rest of the pack. I was a bad Alpha but I would try to do a better job. I didn't need the rest of the pack worrying about me and my actions. I was supposed to be the responsible one, the leader. I should set the example for the rest of the pack. And no one should have to privately question if my judgment was right or wrong. I was a selfish Alpha. I needed to think more about my pack and my people and not about my own personal wishes. From now on I would do what was right and impartial and selfless. That's how a leader should act and I was a leader whether I wanted the position or not. No one would ever have to worry about me again. From now on I, Jacob Black, vow to act and be the best Alpha possible.

As I cleared my head of thoughts unrelated to the pack, I came into the clearing before my house. When I entered my home I saw that it crowded over capacity. Not only was the counsel there but the entire pack was there along with Claire, Kim, Sam, Emily, and my sister Rachel. Everyone one was here. If I'd known all the imprints were here, I would have my brought Renesmee along.

When I walked through my front door no one looked up to see me. No one looked up to meet my eyes. I looked around waiting for someone to meet my gaze but no one did. Then I saw Seth. Seth was sitting on the floor with his arms tucked around his knees. I examined him quickly his body looked like it was in perfect condition. A big sigh of relief rushed through me Seth wasn't hurt, at least not physically. But I looked around the room and still no one was looking at me. I turned my head to face Seth once again. This time when I looked in his eyes I understood. The mood in the room suddenly changed. Something was terribly wrong.

His face looked stressed and wary. His eyes looked sad and maybe even watery like he was holding back tears that were ready to stream down his face at any moment. Then I noticed that Emily had one hand placed on his shoulder; I realized she was trying to comfort him. I was suddenly scared. Seth wasn't hurt physically but mentally. I believed that was even worse.

"Hi Jake" Seth said, trying to make his voice more cheerful than his appearance.

It didn't work. Seth was always happy, I don't recall him ever being not content. His voice never sounded so drained or somber. I knew he tried to cover up the sadness in his voice but it didn't work I could hear the pain and agony in his voice

"Hi Seth" I barely breathed.

"Uh Jake. We need to talk-" his voice broke of mid-way.

He didn't need him to finish his sentence. "We need to talk" always implied something bad was going to occur. Edward did know something was wrong with Seth! Why did he make me wait until I got home? It would have saved me from the unbearable suspense I felt right now.

"Seth, what's going on? Are you hurt?"

That was a stupid question. Of course he was hurting; I could see it in his eyes. He was still the only one who had made eye contact with me. Why wouldn't anyone look at me? It seems everyone was purposefully avoiding eye contact. I looked around again and I this time I caught Sam's eye. He turned his head quickly away the second he saw me looking but it wasn't quick enough. I caught fear in his eyes before he glanced away.

"No no I'm not hurt. You got it wrong."

"Oh uh then what did you wanna talk about?" I asked scared and confused.

"It's…Leah." He said trying to clear his voice of all shakiness.

I nodded. I couldn't process what he said yet. Leah was what he wanted to talk about. Okay so he wasn't the problem. It was about Leah. Then the thought occurred to me that the pained looked on his always friendly face was due to Leah.

"Wu'd she do?" I said angrily through my teeth.

Leah was always the cause of some family drama in our soap opera of a life. When she had left everyone had been glad. Of course her mother and Seth were a little sad but they knew it was better for everyone else. When she left town it was almost as if all the drama in the pack had disappeared along with her. We all were glad but occasionally someone thought of her and you couldn't help but feel remorse for her. In truth, I actually felt a little guilty, if anyone should understand Leah, it should be me. We were once the same. At least that's how she saw it in her mind, and sometimes I couldn't disagree.

Now I saw the horror break out in Seth's eyes and slip out onto his face. Damnit. Wu'd I say?

"She didn't do anything. I _did_." He nearly cried out.

"Seth I'm not following."

"I didn't try to do it on purpose I _swear_!" he was almost apologizing.

"Seth, what the hell did you do? Stop beating around the bush and tell me what happened?" I commanded him with more force than I knew I was capable of. I sounded like an Alpha.

"Okay Okay Jake," the words started to sputter of his mouth." So I was coming back from a run and I decided to drop by Sam and Emily's and see what was new with them. Then when I was with them, Sam told me that they were pregnant. Well I mean _they_ weren't pregnant because that would be I impossible. But I mean Emily is pregnant."

Seth was muddled and rattled. His words were jumbling together. I had to cut in.

"Ya ya Seth I get it. They're having a baby" I said harshly and hurried. I realized my mistake a second after and turned my head up to Emily. "Uh congrats"

"Thanks" Emily mumbled looking down.

I turned my head around the room towards Sam. Sam was directly on the other side of the room, closest to the door, his chair against the wall. This was rare. Sam and Emily were always together. I would think especially now that she was pregnant he would be all engrossed around her but he was doing about the opposite. He was always so protective.

He looked up at me and nodded. I guessed he understood my congrats hadn't meant to sound malicious and that made me feel slightly better. I turned back to Emily and she tried to smile at me and I tried to smile back but our attempts both failed.

"Back to the story, Seth, finish please it" I tried to control my voice so it wouldn't sound so intimidating.

"Okay so I was so excited when I heard the news that I wanted to tell everyone. I was the first one they told." He said it proudly. Then again he was serious. "So I phased because I thought it would be quicker to get the good news to everyone. If anyone else was phased they would hear me too."

I didn't get it. "Uh huh…and?"

"Well…" He started talking fast again. "When I phased I thought everyone who was in wolf-form would be able to hear me. I wasn't thinking. As soon as I phased I just kept thinking 'Emily is pregnant! Mr. and Mrs. Sam Uley are having a baby!"He animated that last part. His voice sped up again. "Like I said, I wasn't thinking so I had no idea that Leah would be listening too! I mean I should have known but…but I was stupid! I forgot. It's been so long since I've even thought of Leah, let alone seen her."

He paused as the information sunk into my head.

"She heard everything. I blew the secret." He quickly looked up to see my gaze then looked down again.

He blew it. He ruined our cover-up. For years, we never thought about Sam and Emily when we were in wolf form. We didn't wanna cause any more unnecessary drama. Leah left the day she saw an engagement ring on Emily's finger. She knew they were already engaged but the ring made it tangible. She left that day she couldn't handle seeing her love with someone else. She ran for days, non-stop. No one knew where she was until Embry caught the sight of a Canadian sign in her head. If Leah ran all the way to Canada because Sam and got Emily a ring what she would do now? Would she try to run to Russia since Sam and Leah officially got married and were now having a kid?

"Oh." I was the only response I could formulate.

He looked at me with a speculating expression. I guessed he was trying to read my expression. Whatever my expression was he couldn't decipher it, because he looked down confused. I wasn't surprised he looked away confused because I didn't even know what I was feeling.

I was confused because of Leah. I hadn't seen her in years. She was never brought up in conversation with the exception of today. No one in the tribe had seen her in years. Last the pack heard, she was wandering somewhere in Canada. The pack usually tried to avoid her thoughts but she made it easy for us. She usually slept during the day which allowed us to play in daylight and allowed her to roam at night. We kept our space. We didn't want to disturb her. She didn't want to be disturbed. We'd been doing the same routine for so long I had forgotten sometimes why we even did it. But whenever I forgot the reason behind the rule I never questioned the reasons behind the rule.

"Uh Jake there's something else."

Great, Leah probably did run off to Russia. "What is it?"

"Well my mom and Charlie are getting married pretty soon…"

"O ya! How could I forget? When's the date?"

Charlie and Sue were the perfect couple. They had dated for years and we all saw it coming. Slowly but surely we all knew this day would come. They had so much in common, like their kids. Their relationship was inevitable.

"Next Friday. You have the invitation."

"Oh, right. Anyways what were you saying?"

"Well we were really hoping Leah would come down for the wedding"

"Uh huh" I was not comprehending whatever point he was going to make.

"Well.."

"Seth just spit it out!"

"We want you to do it. Jake, we need you to go and get her."

"What? Why the hell me? I don't even know where she is!"

"Let me explain. It's just that my mom wants Leah to be at the wedding, and be the bridesmaid, and she hasn't seen her in years. So I just thought that, I mean we all thought that you could go find her because you guys have a lot in common." He started speaking fast again. "Or at least you used to. Remember when we had our little pack? You guys got along then. You even thought of her as, almost a friend. And Jake…buddy you just have to do it. No one else can. If she listens to anybody it'll be you. We really want her at the wedding and if you can't bring her back just make sure she isn't doing anything crazy. We just want her safe."

I was the prime choice to get Leah? When did that happen? I thought she hated me since I imprinted. I was the only person who understood what she was going through then I imprinted. She felt like I betrayed her. Oh boy, now I was guilty. That's twice in one day.

"If I did this, where would I even start to look for her? I have no idea where she is."

"The thing is, she was on her back to res for the wedding but then she heard me." Seth said this quietly.

"Wait she was coming back for the wedding? How come I didn't know about that?"

"Ya. She couldn't help but hear the news of mom and Charlie getting married. She kept going back and forth , she didn't know whether to attend the wedding or not. It seemed like she was going to but when she heard the news-" His voice cracked. "she turned around and started heading north. She was close too. She was in Washington running along the five. Then she just started running back to Canada. You didn't know about it because I didn't tell anybody. Her mind changed from one week to the other. She was unpredictable and I didn't want to jinx it. If everyone went around thinking Leah was coming back and she didn't …I didn't wanna get people anxious or bring their hopes up. And anyways if Leah knew people were expecting her to come back, she wouldn't come. So I really had no choice but to keep it a secret from you."

"You had no choice!" I said raising my voice a little too loud for indoors.

As bad as I felt for Seth I was still angry that he didn't tell me Leah was in the country. He hid his thoughts well.

"Seriously, I'm the Alpha. How could you not tell me?" I said jokingly, trying to brighten up the mood. It didn't work.

Seth looked away towards the window and so did I, and then I realized there were other people in the room. I had completely forgotten everybody else was there. As I scanned the room I could feel the tension. You could cut it with a knife. And I was the cause of most of it.

Everyone was gathered here for a reason. They were gathered here for me, to force me to get Leah. They thought they could guilt me into it. Just because Leah and I were in the same situation once, doesn't mean I sympathize for her. That was a long, long time ago.

"Jacob" Sue's voice caught my attention.

I looked in her direction.

"I know this is a lot to ask of you but I haven't seen my daughter in years and I if you can't bring her back could you just tell her that I miss her and love her."

Oh, so they were going to try and guilt me. As much I wanted to deny, it was working. This was an ambush and they were going to guilt me to death until I agreed to go. But I couldn't go, for multiple reasons, I couldn't even begin to list them.

I gulped, my throat was parched. I didn't know what to say.

"Jake, please. If you don't like Leah, do it for my mom.."

I did not hate Leah I just didn't like the drama she caused. And it was true that we were almost friends once a long time ago. When we were in the same pack together, it wasn't so bad. We got along. We understood each other.

I could do it for her. I believed I owed her that much, but I couldn't I just wouldn't. Our small history together wasn't enough.

I knew Mrs. Clearwater and she could guilt me easily but still it would not be enough. I had priorities here. I had Nessie.

"Bro, just make sure she's okay, for me. You don't have to bring her back for the wedding just make sure she's safe and hasn't done anything crazy to harm herself. Do it for me, will ya? Just a check in on her that's all I ask. Please?"

Oh man, I couldn't bear to see Seth like this. He was begging me. He also changed the conditions I wouldn't have to bring Leah back, I would just have to check in on her and make sure she wasn't doing anything crazy, like running to Russia. That would be all I would have to do but I would still have to say no. I still had no clue where she was.

"Uh where'd you say she was again?"

"Is that a yes?" His face perked up immediately. It was a sight to see. "Well I don't know exactly where she is but she headed back up to Canada. I thought you could catch her scent if you went along the highway and just follow it up."

"Yeah I guess I could do that" I said optimistically.

I had to sound positive I didn't want to ruin Seth's sudden happiness. I didn't want to cause Seth pain. I wanted to stop his pain. Who knew I would be able to cause it and stop it with just a simple word like "yes" or "no".

"So are you gunna do it?" He asked, with a smaller smile this time.

"Maybe" That was a lie. Every bit of hopefulness I gave him was a lie. "Can I have the day to think about it?"That wasn't a question.

I looked around the room everyone had a somewhat disappointed or disapproving look on their faces. I couldn't believe. Most of the guys who used to rag on Leah looked genuinely sad. I could not understand. When did they have a change of heart? Now they felt sympathy for Leah. They could care less about her when she left the pack to go to Canada. But now they cared. What was up with that? Was it because Leah was in pain? Leah was always in pain. We could hear the bitterness in her thoughts every day. Now she's gone and we can't hear her thoughts, so do the guys feel more sympathy for her? Was it maybe because she was suffering alone? Whenever anyone of us was going through a rough patch we always had each other to comfort us. She doesn't have anybody wherever she is. She's facing her troubles and thoughts solo. Then it hit me, she is a part of the pack. She will always be a part of the pack no matter where she is or what she has done. The guys felt bad because our sister was suffering. If I had to do anything I would do it for the pack. I was the Alpha and I had to have an Alpha state of mind.

How would I do this? I couldn't say yes and leave my Renesmee. I couldn't be away from her. Just thinking of her made me miss her. I couldn't say no because I would be letting down my pack and that's not what Alphas do. How would I be able to decide? I couldn't leave but I couldn't stay and do nothing.

Well I did know some things for certain, five to be exact. They were the facts of my life and they were unchangeable.

I was the Alpha. Everything was my responsibility. I had to put other people's need in front of mine. I could never be selfish again.

The Cullens have moved away once again. Minus the exception of Edward, Bella, and Nessie. But once Nessie was seven, they would all move away. This brought me to my next point.

Nessie was almost an adult. She was six years and two months old and in less than a year she will be fully grown.

Charlie and Sue were getting married and Sue wanted Leah to come to the wedding and be her bridesmaid. If Leah doesn't come Bella would be more than happy to step up and be the bridesmaid.

Leah was the one that was hurt. At first I thought Leah hurt Seth but I thought wrong. I had it backwards, Seth had hurt Leah. Bottom line, Leah was in pain.


	2. Chapter 2

2. I Didn't Wanna Be the Bad Guy but I Couldn't Help It

I ran back to the cottage as fast as I could. I couldn't bea to be without Nessie for another minute. She was my life. Everything I did revolved around her.

When I finally arrived at the cottage, I saw Nessie waiting outside for me. Leaning against a wall, I saw her glow in the remaining light of the sky. The glow wasn't as noticeable as this morning but I could still see the sparkle. Today may have started out sunny but now the clouds were fading in.

"I've been waiting." Nessie said in a bored voice. "_Forever." _She added in an exaggerated tone.

"Oh really, forever?"

"Yes, Forever" Nessie crossed her arms and stuck her nose up.

"Sure sure."

"Well it felt like forever."

She uncrossed her arms and met my eyes.

"I'm sorry, Nessie."

My stomach growled. I hadn't eaten all morning. She looked at me and smiled a perfect smile. She had heard my stomach. My stomach growled again and this time it was louder. She giggled.

"I guess someone's hungry." She giggled again.

"I'm glad my hunger brings you joy." I teased.

"Come on in. I think we have some snacks somewhere."

"You know I can't come in even if I wanted."

"The smell? O stop acting like a baby the smell is not that bad."

"Easy for you to say, you're part them. They smell good to you, but to me and my heightened wolf senses they reek. And I'm not talking about that. I literally can't fit in that house I'm too freaking tall."

Nessie burst out into a laughter that was so joyous I had to join in. The great thing about Nessie and I is that we could always make each other laugh. No matter the situation we could always crack each other up. This quality was good in times of stress, sadness, and any other unwanted feeling. The sound of her laugh alone could brighten my day. It was so beautiful that it dazed me and made me forget about all the troubles in the world. Right now, my concerns for Leah and the pack were put to a stand still. I wish I could laugh with her forever but eventually our lungs would run out of air. So I would have to enjoy and cherish the moment while it lasted because ultimately it would end.

When the laugh spasm ended Edward popped out of the door. He was not looking at me strangely anymore, instead he looked more like he was just scrutinizing me. He stopped after a second and prompted his head towards Nessie.

"Why don't I come with you." He responded to her cheerfully. I guessed he must of have responded to something Nessie had thought.

"_Why?_ You don't even eat real food dad." She stated with a little bit of attitude.

Edward ignored her remark and glanced at me for barely a second then responded back to his daughter, "I know but I've been stuck in cottage for years. I just wanted to take a stroll and see forks again."

"Aren't the Cullens not supposed to live in Forks?" I added.

Edward glared at me. Great, I just pissed off the bloodsucker. When Edward wanted to be scary, he could truly be scary. It was almost magic how he could change from a calm façade to a brutal one so instantaneously. He was quite a frightening monster. I was glad I wasn't his enemy. O wait, been there done that. His face immediately turned back to normal and I swear I saw a little smile twitch across his lips after my thought.

"Ya dad. Jake is right." She said agreeing with me. "Anyways Forks hasn't changed much since you've last seen it. It's still the same little old uninteresting town you left."

"Well I guess you're right Nessie. I just wanted to show you around Forks, myself, for once."

"Aw. Daddy you will be able to someday, a day close in the future." She said with smile.

Edward smiled in response. I couldn't tell whether I was genuine or fake. So I guess Edward was still acting weird…seriously what was up with the guy?

My stomach growled again. They both looked at me. I felt self-conscious that time. I could turn heads with the sounds of my digestive system. Awesome.

"Okay Dad well we're going to leave now. Obviously you can't come with us, so bye!" Nessie said irritated and rushed.

Whoa. Where did that come from Nessie never spoke impolitely to anyone especially her parents. She was so well mannered. She had just back talked to Edward with some major attitude. I saw Edward look at her with a little bit of shock. She was never annoyed by her parents, this was the first outburst she had ever had. For any other child it wouldn't be a shock but Nessie was the golden child she did everything perfect. It wasn't just Edward acting strange, Nessie was too.

Bella came outside. She looked at Nessie puzzled. "Is anything wrong?"

"No! I wanted to take Jake out to eat."Nessie still responded still a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"But sweetie you just ate." Bella said still confused.

"Yes I know. I can still go with him though, even if I don't eat anything. It would be nice if he had someone to accompany him, so he doesn't have to eat alone."

"Oh Okay. Well no need to get worked up about that Nessie. Of course you can go." Bella said calmly but still somewhat alarmed by the situation.

I caught sight of Edward in the corner of my eye, he looked furious like he could explode at any moment. I wanted to get away from him as soon as possible, before he erupted.

Coincidently my stomach growled once again to break the silence. Everyone looked at me, of course.

"Wow Jake, you better get out of here and get some food. You're stomach is freakishly loud. I don't think it's normal." Bella teased

"Whoever said I was normal?" I amused with a smile.

She laughed and that lightened up the tension that I felt radiating from Edward. Where was Jasper when you needed him.

"Okay well I guess were off in quest for the food that will satisfy Jacob Black's hunger." Nessie said in her mood happy once again.

We turned and started walking away. Edward still looked pissed when I turned my head but that didn't matte, I was with Nessie. I turned around and waved at Bella and Edward. Now Edward looked more concerned. I hoped he wasn't mad at Nessie for getting angry with him. It's probably just her adolescent finally kicking in.

"Do you think we'll find it?" Nessie asked.

Nessie interrupted my though process but immediately I turned my full attention to her.

"What? Find what?

"You know. Do you think we'll ever satisfy your hunger?"

I started cracking up and naturally she did too.

We ended up going to a fast food joint. I proceeded to get: two orders of double cheese burgers, two orders of large fries, and a large Oreo milkshake. I wonder how the girl at the cash register would have reacted if she knew all the food was for me. Nessie tagging along helped me seemed more normal. People thought one order was for me and the other was for Nessie but obviously that was not the case. I remember when we sat down and I started stuffing my face with the two big beef patties and Nessie commented, "What a fatty". I then reached across the table and punched her lightly against her upper arm. I probably could of punched her harder, she was nearly indestructible, but I didn't wanna risk it.

I dropped Nessie back at home and told her I had to go see my dad. She couldn't believe I was leaving so early. I couldn't believe I was leaving so early. It was only mid-afternoon and I was already saying goodnight to her but I had problems to worry about. Nessie didn't need to know about these problems so I needed to go and tell everyone I couldn't go and retrieve Leah. I had decided I couldn't leave my Nessie. I don't even think it's possible to stay away from someone for more than a day once you imprint upon them. Soon enough though it would be over and I would be able to spend all my time with Nessie.

When I got to my dad's I was happy to see that almost everyone had cleared out of my house. The only intruders left were Embry and Quil. It was like the old gang back together. It was strange to thing about how simple my life was not too long ago. I was so clueless it was almost funny. I couldn't fathom the idea of mythical creatures living in my world and now I was one of those mythical creatures. Now I couldn't imagine my life any other way. If I lived in that other world without monsters and mythical creatures I would never have found my Nessie. Even though the world of mythical creatures and monsters had once messed up my life, I loved my life now. In the beginning, I had trouble digesting it all, but the outcome of my struggle ended happily. I remembered darker memories from my struggle, back then I believe there would never be a good outcome. But it finally came for me, everything worked out and now I was the happiest guy alive in my world.

"Hey guys."

"O hey Jake" Quil said happily surprised.

"Hey!" Embry echoed Quil's same amount of excitement.

I was glad they were happy to see me. The last thing I needed was my two best friends angry with me too. But Quil and Embry always had my back; I shouldn't expect anything less from them. After all they were my brothers.

"What are guys doing?"

"Vegging out." Embry said laying comfortably on the couch with the t.v. remote in his hand.

"Got a problem with that?" Quil added.

"No. I just I have a problem with you eating everything that we have in the pantry."

"Oh well, too bad. You're dad said we could eat anything we wanted." Quil said as he chewed a mouthful of potato chips."

I gave him a dirty look and as I was about to respond but my dad interrupted. "He's right Jake I did tell them they could eat anything they wanted. Now I see that was a mistake."He laughed on that last word.

Quil winked at me, Then smiled "Come on the couch with us Jakey." He patted a spot on the couch for me.

I rolled my eyes at him. " If you wanna keep your face in perfect condition for Claire, I would shut up if I were you."

"Hey hey guys, play nice." Embry called. "Jake build a bridge and get over it and when you're done with that get your butt over here."

I pretended to build an imaginary bridge and I walked across it and sat on the couch next to my buddies. This was relaxing but I couldn't just watch t.v. for the rest of the day. I was on a mission I had to tell everyone or at least someone that I couldn't go and look for Leah. I didn't even know where Leah was where would I begin to look for her? Leah's scent had probably already been washed away by rain. I would have a hard time looking for her it would take longer than a day to do. She ran fast too. She was the fastest wolf I'd known. She wasprobably halfway to Russia right now. Even if I ever did catch her scent and followed her she would see me coming. So she probably figure out my motives before I even caught up to her and try to outrun me. She would be successful. When Leah ran hard no one could catch up to her. That was her specialty, outrunning anyone who dared race with her.

Ugh, the waiting was agony. I wondered why no one had bugged me about Leah yet. My dad must be trying to use some weird reverse psychology. He would try to make me start up the conversation.

Quil and Embry were taking a nap, snoring the evening away. I guess they weren't as worked up about this situation as I thought they were this morning. They seemed carefree. They hadn't brought up the subject yet it was almost as if they were trying to do reverse psychology as well. Damnit, they were. My dad must have talked to them before I got here. Gosh, that was just like my dad to go behind my back my and plan something. For an old guy in a wheelchair he was pretty sly.

I was getting anxious and bored. So I decided to scavenge around for any remaining food. I finally found some leftover popcorn in a bowl flipped over under the coffee table. I figured the three second rule didn't apply to them anymore. Hmm I pondered over the possibilities of what I could do with them. I concluded I would put them to good use if I used them as ammo. I started to throw the popcorn at both the guys. My popcorn shots never really quite reached Embry so I decided to settle my sight solely to Quil. He deserved it though after his little remark. I shot up the popcorn bullet and it landed in his hair. I missed. I was trying to aim for his face. I took another shot and it landed right on his cheekbone and rolled down to his neck. I checked to see if he made any sudden movements. Nope he was still fast asleep. I threw another one. This one hit between his eyebrows and ricochet off. His left eyebrow twitched. Yes! Success. I tried another one and it hit his right eye. He twisted his neck in a different direction. Major score!

I started cracking up. Quil moved his left eyebrow again then started muttering gibberish. I laughed harder. I grabbed a pillow and started laughing into it. Once I could control myself I let the pillow down and walked over to the kitchen. Best idea ever. I opened the fridge. I wanted to take this game to the next level. I found a bottle of Tabasco sauce and took it out. I drizzled it over the few remaining bullets.

I walked over and hovered over Quil. Payback felt so good though I kinda felt like a psycho killer standing over him but no one was watching me so I continued. I gently placed a spicy piece of popcorn into Quil's drool filled mouth. I waited to see a reaction. Nothing happened. I waited some more and nothing happened. I proceeded to walk back to the kitchen in defeat but then I heard a faint cough. I paused. He coughed again. Oh yeah! My evil plan worked. I started to laugh again, until my abs hurt. I must have developed a twelve-pack by now. I had already laughed so much today.

Quil started coughing quite violently. I assumed he was either choking or he was having an allegoric reaction to the popcorn. I probably should have been more worried but it was just so hilarious to watch. He continued to cough until he woke up. Naturally I pretended to seem as I had nothing to do with his rude awakening. He didn't look like he had a popcorn still in his mouth when he woke up, so I guess he must have swallowed it while he was asleep. I had to try to so hard to keep the laughter in.

"Good morning sleeping beauty." I said trying to keep my voice even but I couldn't stop the huge grin that was on my face.

The popcorn bowl was still on my lap so when Quil yawned and stretched I took the chance and threw the evidence under the coffee table. He didn't even notice.

"Whoa what time is it?" Quil asked.

I looked outside. It was dark. "I have no idea."

"Oh wow." His eyes widened "My throat it feels like its on _fire_." He got up abruptly and ran to kitchen sink, stuck his mouth under, and turned it on. I would laugh but I didn't wanna blow my cover.

"Whatever is the problem Quil?"

As soon as he felt his mouth cool down he finally answered. "I have no idea man. I just woke up and my mouth was blazing. It was so weird that's never happened before." His eyes waundered off in thought. He had no clue what happened. I was in the clear.

Phew. I had gotten away with it. It wasn't easy though, I had to try my best not laugh hysterically. But it payed off, he would never find out I was behind his burning throat, my ingenious prank. On the outside I played it cool, but on the inside I had huge grin upon I face.

Before Quil could elaborate more on what happened to him, someone knocked on the door. It was Sam. That was surprising he never left Emily's side, except for this morning, but still that was a shock to me.

"Hey Sam come on in." I shouted across to the room, to stunned to walk up and get the door myself. Of course there was no need for shouting, he would have heard me if I was whispering it. My shout woke up Embry. Embry usually could sleep through anything. I must have shouted louder than I thought. Embry was a heavy sleeper, I still remember perfectly the time when he fell asleep outside and slept through a storm. He was so disorientated when he woke up in the morning he couldn't understand why he was covered in mud. That was an old memory but it was still so fresh in my mind.

He greeted everyone. Then he asked, "Jake, can I have a word with you?"

O Shit. I knew it was coming and here it had arrived. They were all waiting until Sam would talk to me. They were trying to take my mind of the subject until the time arrived. Well, I was prepared. I already knew what I was going to say to him and there would no discussion about it. I didn't wanna be the bad guy but I couldn't help myself. Renesmee just had too much of a pull on me.

"Okay sure." I said as if I had no idea what was about to come.

We stepped outside and walked a little ways until we were inside my garage. So he didn't want Quil and Embry to hear what we were going talk about. I respected that, actually I thought it was a better this way.

"Jake I think you know what this is about."

"Hmmm… I think I do." I said still acting dumb.

"Jake, Quit playing around like a little kid you know what I'm referring to."

Ouch. That hurt but he was completely right.

He took my silence as an agreement and continued. "When I imprinted on Emily, I felt horrible for months, you know that. And then I thought the situation was finally settling down and Leah was no longer in love with me. She wanted nothing to do with me, I thought she hated me. Then when she joined the pack I saw that she didn't hate me, she was still in love with me. I also saw how she struggled day to day with the wolf style life and spending most of her time with me. She wanted nothing more than to be away from me, the pain of seeing me was too much for her. Then when you made your own separate pack, she saw it as a way to escape the part of her life she dreaded most. So she joined you. But when we joined back together she just couldn't handle it anymore. She was getting to her breaking point. Then I proposed to Emily not thinking about the effects it would have on her and then getting the ring…" He paused for a moment. "Then Leah passed her breaking point and hasn't come back yet."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. You shouldn't have had to think about the effects marrying the love of life would have on Leah."

He looked at me his eyes intent. "Yes I should have. I was the Alpha, at the time, I should have waited to propose to Emily. I was selfish."

There was that word again. Selfish.

"I could have waited we didn't even get married until several years after I proposed."

I suddenly had a flash back of that wedding. Everyone was invited even Charlie, Bella, Edward, and Nessie. I remember Nessie was half my size back then. I remember Emily walking down the aisle in a white gown and everyone crying tears of joy at the sight of the blushing bride. She was stunning but as I remember so was Bella on the day of her wedding. I guess it made sense; all brides should be look astonishing on the day of their wedding. I also remember that was the day when Sue and Charlie started going out. It was a good day for everyone.

"Jake I messed up. I was glad that you picked up my slack when you became Alpha." He sounded grateful. "You made sure no one thought about Emily or I, or my engagement or my wedding when they phased. You also made sure she had her space during the night so she could roam free away from our thoughts. You were the opposite of selfish."

There was that damn word again. "No I wasn't."

"Well you cared for her. You cared whether she was in pain or not. Or at least you did. I remember her reminiscing about one of your thoughts before she left. She didn't think anyone was listening."

"Wait what thought was she thinking about?" Leah retained things I had told her?

"Well it's kind of difficult to explain but it was basically about how you and her might actually run away together to Canada. You thought that she was tolerable and she had a lot in common with you. She was willing not to bother you just as long as you took her. And you were starting to get used to the idea. You guys would run away from things you didn't want to face and you guys would do it together. But then you met Nessie and it was all over." He opened his mouth it looked like he was going to say more but then he clamped his mouth shut.

"What else were you going to say?" I couldn't believe she thought about that. What else did she think about that I didn't know?

"O-Oh nothing." He hestitaed there was more to the story.

"Tell me what you were going to say. Please Sam." I asked pleadingly. I wanted to know what else she thought about.

"Well I was just going to say that she wished you hadn't met Nessie because all her plans of escaping the world she hated came to a halt."

"Oh." I didn't wanna know that. "She must have hated me?"

"Actually no she didn't hate you or Nessie or anyone. She was happy that you had a happy ending. Of course she was let down, because you were the only person who knew how she felt. But she certainly did not hate you. She regretted you having those thoughts and considering escaping away with her but she also was glad that you had these thoughts. She was content that you even considered the thought of traveling in a pack with her alone. No one else would do it. She thought that you cared and she felt no one else did. She knew it was probably because you two were in the same situations but she wasn't bothered by it. For the first time in years someone understood her. She didn't feel so alone. You and Leah had a bond. You could sympathize with her. That's all Leah really wanted. No one else could do that but you, Jake. I thank you for that."

One word whoa. I was on overload. I was still processing every word that had been said. I was utterly speechless. I tried to speak but nothing came out of my mouth. What Sam had just said came like a whirl wind to me. I had no idea, I didn't know that Leah of all people didn't wanna kill me. She thought about things I said in the past and she wasn't bitter about one single thing, not one empty promise I had made. Well actually I never made a promise to her but I let her on into thinking that we would flee to Canada together. She wasn't angry at me for imprinting on Renesmee. She wasn't pissed that I didn't feel the pain of seeing my love in another's arm. She wasn't mad that I had forgotten all about her when I imprinted. She was happy for me. She was glad that I even considered tolerating her in my little pack. She was glad that she found someone who understood her and could sympathize with her. She thought about what I had said even a year later. The thought of what I had said brought her happiness. She hated her life. She was the only one who never found her happy ending. She was sad and hurt and in pain.

Then something clicked in my mind and I suddenly I went into Alpha mode. My thoughts became clear. Oh crap! I had messed up big time. I was a selfish selfish person and I had to fix it. I wasn't even being nice to Leah I just tolerated her and that brought her joy. I was a bad person and especially a bad Alpha. I remembered now the promise I had made this morning I promised to be the best Alpha I could possibly be and right now I was not acting like it.

"Jake?" Sam waved his hand in front of my face. I shook my head and fell out of the trance instantaneously.

"Sorry Sorry. I'm here."

"Jake she thought highly of you?"

Great, as if I couldn't hate myself anymore I did now. I was grateful he told me though. "Thanks for telling this Sam. I really appreciate it."

"So Jake when we asked this morning if you would go find Leah. We knew we had asked the right person. I hope you see why we thought you were the right person."

"Yes I do see and I'm sorry for my response this morning. It wasn't right and it wasn't mature. Not something an Alpha should do. I should have known that. My Alpha always conducted himself so perfectly."

"Thank you Jake." He nodded his head at me. "So you will do it?"

My Alpha voice took over. "Yes" I said strong and affirmative. "She is part of my pack and I should be responsible for her."

"You're a good Alpha Jake."

"Not all the time" I said still in Alpha mode.

"That may be so, but at least you are trying."

His words helped me. I didn't hate myself that much anymore. I even smiled.

"So when do you think you're going to leave?"

"Tomorrow morning. I'll say goodbye to everyone then leave."

He gave me a look. He saw right threw me. By everyone, he knew I meant Nessie, but instead he just said, "That sounds like a plan to me, Alpha."

The ambush that I had hated this morning didn't bother me anymore. I was at fault for being angry with them. They were all gathered this morning for Leah, not me. They wanted to help Leah.

"So do you think the guys are listening to us from outside the door?"

He laughed once. "Well not anymore they just ran back inside the house."

We both laughed.

"Those eavesdroppers how dare they." I said in the tone of a disapproving parent.

"Someone is going to need to have a talk with them and give them a time out." He mocked my same tone.

Sam left and I decided it was time to go to bed I had a long day ahead of me tomorrow. I told Quil and Embry to spilt and I even teased them a little before they left. Then I said goodnight to my dad. He asked me why I was going to bed so early, but he knew. He always had a way into making me do things without even asking me to do them. I hope when I had kids I would be able to do the same thing.

I told him why I was going to be early and he told me, "You're a good person Jake. I knew you would come around and do the right thing. I am proud of you. I always am."

I knew the last words he said would always stick with me until I was old and feeble.

"Night, dad. Love you." Usually I didn't get mushy like this but the word just flowed out of my mouth. I was glad I said them it felt right.

"Love you, too, son."

I went to bed and tried to close my eyes, but before my eyelids could shut down together I thought about Nessie. I wasn't going to be able to say goodbye to her but I had to do it. I shut my eyes together tight.

It was early when I awoke but I knew Nessie would be up by the time I got to the cottage. I said bye to my dad, engulfed a bowl of cornflakes and milk and was off to Nessie's. Now this was going to be the hard part, not for her, but for me. She might be able to stay away from me but I wasn't able to stay away from her. As long as I kept reminding myself I was the Alpha I would be able to stay strong and say goodbye.

The run over to her house seemed to short. I couldn't believe I was in the clearing already. I wasn't ready to say goodbye yet. I phased and started walking to the house but I quickly realized I hadn't brought any pants along with me. It occurred to me that I didn't need pants when I was looking Leah but now I wasn't so sure anymore. I phased back. I guess I would say goodbye to her in wolf form. Maybe that was best, humans were so emotional. I might even be easier to say good bye to her this way.

Nessie ran out of the house. Bella and Edward accompanied her. Maybe they knew what I was here for. Well I certainly knew Edward knew why I was here. I looked at him he nodded to me. I looked down to Nessie. She didn't to have any idea what I was doing.

"Hi Jake!"She said so energetically that it filled me with energy.

I gave a little howl to take the edge off my sudden excitement. I hope she translated that as my hello.

"Morning Jake." Bella greeted.

"Hello Jacob." Edward said already knowing the reason why I was here.

_Did you tell them?_

"No." Edward answered quietly. Nessie and Bella could still hear Edward perfectly, they were supernatural too.

They both looked at Edward puzzled. I gave him a quick nod while they were distracted. Out of the corner out of my eye I saw Bella look up. She caught my gesture. She stood silently but bit down on her lower lip. She then looked at Edward, they both stared at each other for a moment. He nodded his head even so slightly. Bella was letting her shield down and asking him question. She looked back toward me. Now she knew the motive for my coming today. Usually I was human by the time I reached Nessie's house, but since I didn't bring pants today she more aware of my actions since I had arrived.

"Looks like someone forgot their clothes at home?" Nessie inferred.

Yeah. I also left my sanity long with it. Oh Nessie! If you could only hear me.

_Edward could you give me a minute alone with Nessie?_

"Yes." He answered. Hm. That was a delightful surprise. With all of his weird behavior lately I thought he would have said no. I was glad I went with my gut and asked him.

Nessie whipped her head back to look at Edward. "Are you communicating with him?" She demanded.

"Yes Nessie, I am." Edward answered

She suddenly got infuriated. "I hate it when you do that. I feel so left out. I get left out of everything. What is he saying?" Bella had the utter face of shocked as she stared at her daughter in disbelief. Nessie was throwing her second fit since she' been born.

"Nessie all he said was that he wanted to be alone with you for one moment" Edward exhaled the words in one calming breath.

"Oh." Nessie immediately perked up and went back to her normal mood again. Poor Bella and Edward they had no idea how to deal with her mood swings. She was a teenager, they had to know the rebelling stage was coming. Edward's calm face was suddenly replaced with a look of pain. She must of thought of something horrible. I was glad she kept the thought to herself, well almost to herself. I didn't wanna see Bella hurt by something Nessie said if it had hurt Edward's feelings.

Edward held his stare at Nessie with his pained face then he turned his glance towards me. I didn't turn my head quick enough, I saw the pain in his eyes. He looked like he was just shattered. "Goodbye Jacob. I hope you have a safe trip." He said in a monotone voice that did not match his facial expression.

Bella took her cue next, " Goodbye Jake." She walked up to me and wrapped her arms around neck then hugged me. Though I was chilled by the shock of her cold skin, the hug warmed me. She let go and she and Edward walked off into the cottage.

"Wait a second, did you just say 'have a safe trip'? Where is he going?"

_Edward.I think you're going to have to stick around for a little while longer._

Edward came back in a rush and started to explain. "Yes Jacob is going on a trip."

"When?" she asked.

"He is leaving today." He said in a monotone voice "Alone" He added he must have answered a thought in Nessie's head.

A veil of sadness took over her face. "Oh."

Crap, I kept thinking of how I wouldn't be able to say goodbye to Nessie. Never did the thought occur that she would want to say goodbye to me. Oh Reneseme, if only I could express myself to you in words. If only you could hear me. If only you knew the explaination. I want to explain to you but I can't. Maybe it was best that Edward told her, I probably wouldn't be able to do it myself. Especially now that I saw the way it affected her. A howl escaped me, it was whine. My equivalent of tears. I felt my eyes fill with water.

"He wanted to say goodbye to you before he left." Then Edward disappeared into the cottage once again.

Nessie looked up. I saw the sadness in her eyes and was just glad she wasn't crying too. That would make this a whole lot harder. I looked at her with pleading eyes. She must have seen the tears welling up in my eyes because she ran up to me and cried out, "Don't cry Jake!".She wrapped her arms tightly around my neck and I leaned my head down towards her. She then wiped the inner corners of my eyes with her shirt.

"Jake I'm going to miss you. Whatever is causing you to cry I hope you figure it all out." She whispered to me still keeping a firm grip on my neck.

God! She was going to miss me. That was the last thing I wanted. I wanted to tell her I was crying over leaving her. Why was she comforting me? I should be the one trying to comfort her.

She started whispering again. "I'm going to miss you everyday you're gone. Don't be gone too long. Okay?"

I nodded my head and she kept her embrace on me for another minute. One of her hands slipped down to my cheek bone and I saw the image of the lunch we'd spent together today. It was comprised of me smiling and laughing, nothing else just her focused vision on my face. The vision finished. Then she said, "Goodbye Jake." And she let both her strong grips off me.

I just stood still looking at her until she said, "Go Jake the quicker you leave the quicker you will arrive come back home to see me." She waved goodbye and I started running towards the forest.

I knew I couldn't look back. If I did I would lose my hold on strength and go running back to her. I couldn't run back to her I had responsibilities. It was a struggle, I could feel her watching me as I ran. In order to not go running back to her, I thought about my pack and my position as the Alpha. I was deep in the forest now, I had succeded. I didn't look back at Nessie the hardest part of my parting was over. I wouldn't be the bad guy anymore. I sighed with relief that I had done the right thing. Then I winced in pain. I felt a sudden ache deep in my chest. I knew it wouldn't go away anytime soon.

**Thx for taking the time to read. Good reviews, constructive criticism, or random comments are encouraged! 3**


	3. Chapter 3

3. Can't Wait to Get This Stupid Scavenger Hunt Over

I caught Leah's scent quickly she was closer than I had imagined. It was right where Seth had described it would be. I was impressed. All this time he had hid his thoughts about Leah. He was very good at retaining information from others people's head. This was a skill I hoped he had't use on me but he probably did.

Speaking of minds, I decided it would be better if I kept my thoughts to a minimal so that Leah wouldn't hear me. I was silent. Was she out there? Was anyone out there? It was so silent. All I could hear were the trees flying past me and the faint sounds of animals here and there.

"Hello?" I asked. I must have sounded so retarded, like a scared little kid asking 'Is anyone there' after a door opens from wind on creaky hinges.

No one replied to my question. I was on my own then, at least until night fell. I was currently in my human form; I didn't wanna risk being in wolf form the same as Leah. Afterall, she might read my thoughts to easily, if she was anything like her brother Seth. But then again, if I could catch a glimpse of what she was thinking I would know where she was. Then I would have the upper hand. Was my strategy worth the risk? I would have to believe so. Anything that got me home sooner was the right choice.

Nessie. The thought of her alone made my whole body ache. I couldn't believe I had left her. If only she hadn't wanted me to stay. It would be a million times easier if I was the only one about to break into tears. I winced. The pain intensified immensely more the longer I thought about her. I tried to focus my attention onto something else but I failed. Images of her kept popping up into my head, despite my many efforts to stop them. All I could see was her dazzling perfect smile that always made me smile. I remembered the other morning when I had woken up and seen her glowing in the clearing. She was so amazing. She possessed the best qualities of the supernatural, but she still maintained the appearance of a human being. Another picture flashed before my eyes, it was one of her with teary eyes. Her head were sunken down allowing some of her bronze curls to fall in front of her face. Her chocolate brown eyes were like daggers, the pierced me as I relived the memory. Her eyes were welled up with tears though she didn't allow them to escape their sockets. Ow. The body pain was even more striking now but I deserved it. I deserved all the pain I received for causing Nessie's face to look like that. The physical pain, I could handle. The longing for Nessie, was becoming unbearable.

I changed to my wolf form because it was less tedious and quicker. It was getting closer to night and the sky light was fading, not that I had trouble running in dark but I wanted to be in Canada by the time the moon was up. I ran up the besides the highway the entire time until I crossed the Canadian border. I had made it with minutes to spare. I came to the predicament of deciding whether I should phase back or not. If I did I would have no idea how much ahead of me Leah was. But if I didn't phase back I could risk her seeing me pursue her. Then if she saw, she would try to lose me and she would succeed. I had a difficult decision but before I could decide I felt another presence in my head. It was Leah, she was looking up at the night sky and then she felt felt my presence. Before she could interpret my thoughts, I phased.

"Damn!" I hadn't gotten any information from her. She was only gazing at the dumb stars. There was no sign no nothing that was a waste! I almost blew my cover and the whole ordeal. I would just have to stick to trail and see where it would lead. Although I probably did blow my cover and now she was making a run for it and trying to make trick tracks. "Damn Damn Damn!"

I started walking following her tracks when the idea struck me. Leah had been gazing up at the moon and the stars. I could pinpoint her location by matching the position of my sky with her sky. I looked up at the sky and thought. I slowly matched my constellations and her constellations in my head. She was northwest ahead of me. I started running in that direction. Her scent continued to flow up northward but not in the exact direction I was going. I could only hope that the route I was taking was a short cut. Running in my human from was not fast in comparison with my wolf body. Ugh. This was going to take longer than I would have hoped. I was glad I went to bed early the previous night. It looked like I was about to pull an all nighter. That shouldn't be so hard; when Bella was human I would stay up at night patrolling around her house. I hadn't done that in a while…I slept good for the past six years.

Running was such a drag in my human form, my strides were so short. Still, compared to the average human I was fast. I probably would win an Olympic Marathon not even breaking a sweat. The main reason I liked running in wolf form was because I was the fastest creature out there. No animal could compare to my speed. I was even faster than a bloodsucker. Maybe that's why I liked it so much. Oh thank God! I could see the sun rising and I was starving. I was hungry during the night but I couldn't risk going to a town after all I didn't have any pants. I could just imagine walking into a small Canadian town head to toe naked. I played the possible scenarios in head, they didn't end well. Most of them I ended up in cold jail cell or worse. Nighttime was a good camouflage, no one could see me running in the woods, but during the daytime it would be a lot easier to spot me.

The sun was pretty much up so I phased. " Anyone there?" I sounded once again like the little scared kid afraid out what they couldn't see.

_Jake?_

Shit! Leah hadn't phased back yet. I was so screwed.

_No Jake wait! It's me Seth! _

Relief washed over me. _Hi Seth I'm so glad it's you._

_Of course you are. You nearly pissed in your pants when you thought I was Leah._

_Well I was glad it was you but now I'm not so sure. _

_Oh Jake come on now. _He moved onto a different subject. _You didn't say goodbye to me. I had no idea you left until last night. You left me out of the know bro._

_That rhymed…know…bro. Did you develop into a poet since I saw you last saw you?_

_Ha ha ha very funny. I see you have lowered the quality of your humor._

_Aw buddy can't you take a little joke._

_Yes I can. I just wanted to tell you first that I'm glad you decided to leave. I mean I'm glad you went to look for Leah. Thanks Jake. I owe you one._

_Oh. You-uh I uh…there's uh no need to thank me. It had to be done._

_Well no matter what thank you._

_No problem. _

_So why didn't you say bye to me this morning? _He saw through my thoughts. _Oh right, Nessie. I guess that's a pretty legit excuse, but still you couldn't call me or something? After all I am your favorite person in world_. He paused and rethought his assumption. _After Nessie that is. _He had a smile on his face. I couldn't see it but I knew it was there.

_Of course Seth you are my favorite person besides Nessie._ I assured him. It was all true what I told him. He was my favorite person beside the half human - half vampire I had imprinted upon. Ouch. Again I winced in pain. I hadn't even mentioned her name this time yet I was in pain.

_Whoa dude that's rough. I'm sorry._ I could always count on Seth to be genuine no matter the situation.

I sniffed. I had caught the scent of Leah again. Thank God. I was starting to think I'd be running Northwest with no end in sight. Luckily my short cut had worked. Leah's scent was strong. She had to have been here no less than twelve hours ago. I wasn't as far behind her as I originally thought. This was a good sign the quicker I found her, the quicker I get to see-

Seth interrupted my chain of thought before I could harm myself. _Jake! _He exclaimed. He thought of something to say in order to misdirect my attention. Too bad I could read his every thought and knew what he was doing. I saw right through his distraction but it worked. _I should probably let you go. You're right on her tail. No pun intended. Actually, yes pun intended. _He laughed to himself. _Oh but you should probably eat first. Bye Jake. _That was the end of the conversation before I could say bye I felt his presence fade away. I was on my own now. Seth would probably tell everyone that I was gaining on her right now and that I shouldn't be disturbed, which was true, it was harder when people were trying to talk to me while I was trying to focus on a scent. Seth never managed to disappoint me. He always knew what to do and what to say he was always a nice person. That quality came natural to him.

I inhaled deeply, Leah scent was like music to my ears. I pushed myself even faster. I was in my fullest, fastest sprint now. It felt as if I was a bullet, this was closest I'd gotten to flying. I barely touched the ground now and then, my strides were so long. There was always something peaceful about running, I didn't exactly know what but it always seemed to clear my mind of all of my thoughts and worries. I tried to push myself faster, sticking to the trail of the scent. I dug my nails more aggressively into the rich soil below thinking that I would vault myself father ahead if I did that. It seemed to work. It had been a very long time since I had tried to push myself to my limits.

I remember the last day I pushed myself with perfect clarity. It was a while ago. Blondie bet that she could outrun me, I bet she couldn't. We had decided to make the stakes high if I won I would get her red BMW M3 convertible and if she won I would never set foot in the Cullen mansion again. Of course I knew I was going to win but before the race I went up to Alice and asked "whose gunna win?" I said it in a nonchalant tone but underneath the attitude I was a little scared if I lost I would be able to set foot in the Cullen house, the place where the my Nessie spent most of her time. Alice replied annoyed and with venom in her words, "I don't know. I can't see muts." I walked away from her with a little smile on my face, making the little spiky tot angry was a funny sight to see. She was practically half my size but she still had all the emotions of a normal height person. I laughed and turned to look over my shoulder to her. She was scowling at me then she stormed out of the room ranting on something about dogs. I knew I was going to win or at least that's what my ego said. Maybe my ego was bigger because I was a larger person. I pondered on that for a moment. Then I heard Rosalie call me, "Dog I'm waiting." I took my time strutting to the outside of the house. I made sure she was ticked off before we started. Emmett, the big one, who was the only one anywhere near my height, explained the rules to us. It was simple all we had to do was run half a mile then loop around a tree and back to the house. A half mile was nothing I would smoke this babe easily. I phased and we got into our positions, I winked at her and she gagged in revulsion. "On you mark," Emmett began, "Go!" I immediately lifted off pushing the away the dirt beneath my feet. I was sprinting and she was already lagging behind. She sped up and I could tell she was really trying, even though she didn't break a sweat or her breathing did not falter. This freaked me out a bit, I had to remind myself she was a vampire and she didn't do to any of those things a living being needed to do. I focused again on my running, the tree I needed to loop around was so close Edward was standing there as the marker. He winked at me as I looped around him. He knew I was going to win, I wasn't even pushing myself to my fullest. I looked behind me and saw Blondie, she wouldn't catch up to me in time by the race was over. I flashed her a grin and heard her growl. Then I started going really fast, I not only was going to beat the leech I was going to smoke her. That would teach her, she'd never mess with me again and on the plus side I would get her precious red convertible. I pushed myself faster a faster until I felt the water rushing out of my eyes, my eyes got a little blurry but it was worth it. I was in front of the house and I had won. I let out a howl of excitement. When I turned around she was just arriving. I laughed and stuck out my tongue at her. She glared at me then stammered away into the house. When she slammed the door, it came right off its hinges. I started to laugh so hard it was uncontrollable. Of course only Edward and Bella knew I was laughing everyone else thought I was having so kind of wolfy post dramatic seizer or something that sounded like that. I forget exactly the term Carlisle used but it didn't matter. Soon enough Bella told everyone to chill out because my short breathed howls and grumbles were laughs. Bella could read my mind as well as Edward. Soon every one of the blooksuckers started to laugh with me. Rosalie grunted from inside the house. Then Emmett still laughing called, "Aw babe it's all right I thought you did a great job. Don't get made we'll get you a new-"The big one couldn't finish what he was going to say because he started to laugh again. Yeah blondie would never mess with me again.

I decided to grab something to eat, Seth was right. I listened around for any game. I heard a huge animal close by where I was. I diverted off my trail, to my surprise the animal that I was stalking was I moose. I had never eaten one of those. I hoped they tasted good but at this point it didn't really matter my instincts told me I was hungry. So naturally, I would eat anything that I found. I got it. It was massive compared to the deer in Washington. I would not have to eat for days I was way overfed. I felt like a stuffed turkey. It wasn't that bad but then again I was starving. I wondered if Leah had been eating moose as I tried to follow her trail. She never really did like eating other animals. She didn't like the blood and guts, she liked her food well done. I remembered once when she was a part of my pack and I taught her how to eat 'raw food'. She didn't like it at first but she needed to eat so I helped guide her through it. That was a weird time for me because that was when we were actually getting along. I caught her scent and immediately let go of the memory.

Once again I pushed myself to my limits despite the fact I that I just engulfed the hugest creature I've ever eaten. I felt a little dragged at first but that feeling disappeared quickly. I was on her trail and I was gaining. As I followed her scent up and down and through winding trails, I couldn't help but notice that the scent grew stronger. I must be closer to her than I thought. But that couldn't be it she must know I was coming to find her. Unless, she didn't by some musicale chance.

I was shocked. I thought Leah knew what I was doing when I phased and she was still there. I was prepared for the worst. I thought she would see me coming and make a run for it, but no I had the element of surprise. This was gunna go a lot different than I had planned. She wouldn't see me coming, so would it easier or harder to get her? Before, I was just worried about leaving Nessie, a spasm of pain circulated through my entire body, but now I was worried about what I was going to say to Leah. How was I going to convince her to come back home with me? How would react to just seeing me? She hadn't seen any one of us in a long time. Anxious and nervous, I continued on the path that was stained with Leah's smell. The longer I continued behind her footsteps the more I became hesitant. I was uncertain of what was going to come but I was already so close so I had to continue. The weather suddenly started to change. I felt a northern chill run threw my hair. I was glad I hadn't cut my hair yet, even though Nessie didn't like the length anymore. My longer hair was quite practical in the wintery months and now I was glad it was long.

The sun was setting and the only thing I could think of was Nessie, Renesmee, my Nessie. Ouch. Ow. I winced in pure pain but I deserved it. I couldn't help but keep my thoughts surrounded by Renesmee. I had not seen her all day and it was so hard to not think of her. Tomorrow would be even harder.

I decided to phase back to human form before the sun was completely set I didn't want to relive the mishap of yesterday. When I phased I was so exhausted, I could barely keep my eyelids apart. I stumbled a few steps forward then passed out on a nearby shrub.

When I awoke the sun just barely rising, I took in the light grey scene. I captured the scene surrounding me, it looked untouched, as if no one had ever this part of the forest. I also liked that part of being a werewolf, I got to see places most humans would never see. I got up lazily and stretched. Even though the ground I lied upon was soft the position my body slept in was awkward. My shoulder blade and arm felt a little stiff. I was glad I had a high tolerance for pain because if I was human that would have really hurt. I wandered around and found a nearby stream. I drank from it and then decided to refresh myself in it. I was cool but the contrast felt good against my always warm skin. As soon as the sun officially rose I took a bath and phased.

I looked around for Leah's scent. When I found it, I noticed it had faded since I last smelled it. I could still catch her scent but I hoped she hadn't too far away from me since last night. After all she slept during the day and roamed around during the night. I hoped she hadn't gone too far because this chasing afterher was staring to become a drag. When would this end?

_Jake?_

_Oh!. Hey Seth._ He took me by surprise. For some reason I thought it might be Leah even though it was the middle of the day and she was probably fast asleep.

_I just wanted to do a little check up. You know she how things are doing but don't worry I'll be the only one disturbing you today. Let me just say it is really hard for the guys not phase. They're just dying to know what's going on and if you've found Leah yet. _

_Well I haven't. I'm still on her trail. I'm glad you decided to phase and talk to me. It gets pretty boring and kind of lonely doing nothing all day._

_Well besides the fact that your running like hell all day long, I swear I think you might be running even faster than Leah. _

_No I'm not. _I reassured him. I was the second fastest in the pack but she was the first.

_Well it seems like it…and you never know things can change. _

I laughed. _I highly doubted that idea. If I was faster than Leah I think I would have figured that out a few years back. Don't you think?_

_Yeah I guess. Man, but you didn't think that you would ever be the alpha a few years back did ya?_

_Hmmm. I guess you have a point there. Touché. I guess you just influence my thoughts more and more these days. _

_Are we referring to three days ago? _Seth asked curiously.

_Yes I am._

_Um Jake if you forgot I'm in your head, I can clearly see that I was not the one who made you change your mind about rescuing Leah._

His accusation was right.

I didn't reply to him. Instead I thought of the memory.

_Sam did a pretty good job of convincing you. I'lI take tips for next time when I try to get you to do something. _

_O great I can't wait until you test out your skills. _If he spoke like Sam and on top of it acted like he did the other day I would never be able to say no to him. He would be a double wammy. No he would be an unstoppable force. Let's hope that never happens.

_Oh, so I see. I will cry next time too if that's what I need to do._

_If you do that you'd be able to get anything you want and you'd probably end up ruling the world making everyone you're personal slaves. _

_Hmm the idea is intriguing but I think I can use my skills toward other things._ The idea was never intriguing to Seth but he just went along with the conversation. Global domination didn't appeal to him. _I should go now everyone is getting anxious to hear about your updates, Unless you want ten other people in your head._

_I get it. Good bye Seth. I'll talk to you soon. _

_Bye Jake. _His words faded away.

I was glad Seth had talked to me. It was refreshing from my continuous routine of running. Anything that helped my mind become preoccupied helped the time to fly by. Everything in the forest got boring after awhile. So occasionally, my mind wandered from subject to subject until it chose just one.

The entire day the only thing I could think of was Nessie. No matter how many times I tried to change my course of thought it came back around, like a boomerang, to her. I wanted to go home to her. I knew she didn't want me to leave but I had to. It was my duty. Part of me just wanted to bail and go home, but the other part told me to stay and continue. The opposing voices in my head had the same amount of authority, which made it harder to choose a winner but in the end I kept following Leah's tracks west. I had absolutely no idea where I was? When I had run of on my own a few years back, I ran eastward. The scenery here was different then where I had been. It was colder here and there were no human landmarks or signs anywhere. Not even a sign marking forest trails. Was she heading to Alaska? Was I heading to Alaska? Were we even in Canada anymore? Had I crossed the border unknowingly?

I started paying closer attention to my surroundings since I had made that assessment. The trees were large, the animals were abundant, everything was normal. I tried to look for markings anywhere that would reveal my location to me but there was nothing, just nature in it's purest form. Since my investigating wasn't working, I set all my focus on Leah's trail. I tried to push myself past my limit. I was doing good, I kept my limit speed constant for hours. The rush of cool air against my face helped me focus on tracking the scent. Her scent led to a wide stream. I was thirsty so I drank from the stream. While I was swallowing the refreshing water, I realized her scent disappeared. Her tracks ended right at the streams edge. I searched up and down along the side of the river for her scent. It was nowhere to be found. I returned back to the place where her scent disappeared and sniffed the air. I hoped her scent was still somewhere in the air. I sniffed again facing towards the vast river. I caught something. A faint something but I had no other leads so I followed it. The river was wide but shallow. I ran across it with little trouble due to the lazy current. I smelled for her and found her trail. I once again was running my limit, faster than sprinting. Her scent had gotten stronger when I reached the other side of the river. I supposed she cooled off in it, like I had done in the morning. The water here was cooler it felt nice.

Her scent was really fresh. She must be only a few hours ahead of me. Would I be able to make to her before she phased. The sun was lowered in the sky and I pushed myself faster. I once again reached my bullet like speed. I was flying through the air push my nails into the cold dirt below. I came across a dead moose. So I guess Leah didn't mind the taste of raw flesh anymore. Leah only ate half the carcas what a waste. I guess some other creature will have an aasy meal ready for them. Damn that moose was huge, if she wasn't going to eat it all why didn't get a smaller one?

Her trace grew stronger with every stride I took. She was near me, she was somewhere, I could feel it. The sun was setting and I could tell she was close. I didn't want to phase back and risk losing her. This game of cat and mouse was getting tiresome. I just wanted to go home. I tried to make my strides longer. The sun was casting little light now. It was getting dark and her scent was so alive. It was all I could smell. She had to be close I felt my body getting giddy. I knew in my gut she was around here. Then I heard something in the distance it was movement. Was that her? I was sure of it. She must have just woken up. If I could hear her, she must be able to her me approaching. I was scatterbrained I still had no idea what I was going to say to her when we spoke. I guess I would have to hope that it all came to me in the moment.

My eyes searched for her, there was barely any light but I should still be able to find her easily. I was happy my tracking was over. The sooner I found her, the sooner I would be able to return to my Nessie. The name brought pain to me, but I didn't relish it long. I looked around again, my eyes scanned the surrounding trees. I saw something in the distance dash behind a rock. It was Leah she was still in her human form. I was approaching the boulder when suddenly Leah jumped from behind the boulder in her wolf form.

_Jake? Why the hell are you here?_ A flash of emotions ran through her as she saw me. She was completely bewildered, mostly. However the emotions like anger, fear, happiness and awe also flowed through her.

I hoped the words would come to me. They didn't . _I'm here to ask you something. _I attempted to hide my thoughts from revealing what I was here to do.

It worked Leah was still had no clue why I was standing in front of her. _Why are you here? _She asked me puzzled and defensive.

_I wanted to ask you something _

_Yes! Ask me._ She was nervous and impatient. She waited badly to know what I was about to say. She hated knowing things last.

_Jake if you don't tell me why you are here, I'm going to find out from your thoughts…soon enough _She added with a bitter tone.

_First, Leah, I want you to take a chill pill with me. Just settle down and breathe with me. _I took a big breath in and waited for her to do the same. Once she did, I let it out slowly with her.

_Okay okay I'm calm now. You just arrived like the big bad wolf when I was sleeping so of course_

_I was a little on edge. You looked suspicious._

_Would you like to have this talk in human form? _I asked a little puzzled.

_Yeah I guess. That would take a little of the edge off my back. _

_Wait we can't I don't have any clothes._

_Oh. _Leah tensed up again, wondering if her suspicions were true.

_Oh whatever I'll phase and stand behind tree or something…_

_Okay. _She ran behind the boulder to get her clothes but before she phased I could see her picture me standing behind a tree naked peeking my head around to talk to her. She thought it was funny but I certainly did not.

I looked for a nearby tree to phase behind but instead I found a knocked over dead tree. I assumed it died from old age since nobody had ever walked these lands. I went over behind and phased. I was the perfect height it covered everything on the lower half of my body that I did not want Leah to see. Even though she had seen me naked before, I was not comfortable with her seeing me again. With the guys it was different because they were dudes but with a girl it just felt odd.

Leah walked from behind the boulder fully dressed in jean shorts and a tank top. When she caught full sight of me a smirk appeared across her face. I must have looked dumber than I thought. I suddenly wished I found different tree to stand behind. I felt a little embarrassed, but there was need for those emotions now. I was on my mission and it was halfway done. What did it matter what she could she could see and couldn't see it was dark anyways. The only light source produced in the sky was from the infinite number of stars. The night was cloudy and the moon was temporarily hidden behind one of them. Her smile disappeared as she grew anxious for what I was going to say to her.

"I wanted to know first and foremost if you're all right?" I said as I remembered Seth's request.

"Um sure I'm okay. Can't you see that?" I examined her outward appearance she looked alright but a lot thinner than I remembered her.

"I wasn't asking about your physical appearance." I stated.

"Oh." She understood what I meant this time. "I'm fine." Leah replied. I was doubtful, however she did seem fine mentally. She hadn't killed herself and it seemed so far that she hadn't turned crazy so maybe she was alright. But why was she running to Alaska?

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." She answered irritated by my question.

"Why were you running all the way to Alaska then?"

"We're in Alaska?" She asked pleasantly surprised. Then she let her mouth run. "I actually wasn't sure where I was going, but I knew it had to be getting closer to Alaska. After all it was getting colder and I had never been here before and I looked totally deserted but I wasn't sure." She stopped talking when she saw my bored reaction. Leah probably hadn't talked to anyone in years so she probably had a lot she needed to say. But if that were the fact, didn't people go crazy if they didn't have anyone to talk to. I reevaluated her, checking for any unusually quirks she had picked up since she'd last seen anybody.

"Leah, when's the last time you have talked to someone or had human contact?"I was suddenly scared to hear her answer.

"Not too long ago, maybe a week. Why do you ask?" Her eyebrows furrowed together.

"So do you interact with humans on a regular basis?

"Yeah I do. Or I did until last week. It's a long story."

Oh phew. She hadn't gone crazy. I was almost staring to doubt her mental stability. "Okay well I'm here to ask you another question."

"Another one? You said you wanted to ask me one question. You've aleady asked me like twenty."She seemed frustrated.

"Well this is the real question I came here to ask you."

"Okay go on but this better be the last one."

I ignored her demand and tried to put together the words what I wanted to say. The question had to be perfect so that she wouldn't be able to say no. My entire journey relied on this question and her answer. "Leah come back with me to the res to be your mom's bridesmaid."

"That wasn't a question" She said as she took a step away from me from making the ten foot gap between us wider.

"I know" I said in a calming voice. I didn't want her to phase and run away from me.

"Well the answer is no" She said in a trembling voice.

"Why?"

"Hey you said only one more question!"

"I know and this is my question the other one was a statement. So answer it."

"Jacob Black you know very well why I can't go." She waited for an answer but I did not give her one. So she started again, "I can't go because Sam is there with a pregnant Emily and I…I can't stand it even if I'm there for my mom and Charlie. I can't stand going back and living in a place where I see their family grow and thrive, while I sit in the shadows envying Emily for the rest of my bitter life."

"I never said you have to stay I just want you to be there during the wedding cermonoy."

"Why do you want me to come back? You never liked me much you only tolerated me."

"Leah everyone wants you back. They want you to be at the wedding. Your mom misses you to pieces and so does Seth. They just want to see you again, it's been so long and even Sam wants you back. We all want you back it's been years since anyone has seen you and just come back with me. You'll only have to stay until the reception is done. And we all really miss you."

I saw her go over what I said and think about it. "Everyone?" She said stunned. "And just until the wedding is over? No one will make me stay longer?"

"No one will make you stay longer than you want just come back with me to be the bridesmaid at your mom's wedding. Please Leah. You got to do it for me…I mean you got to do it for your mom and your brother."

She thought and then replied, "I guess I can do that."

A smile came across my face and I couldn't help it. I tried to close my mouth to hide my satisfaction but this was the best news I heard today. The hardest part of my journey was done. Now all I had to do was return back the res with Leah.

"Jake are you smiling because if you are its really scary. So stop it."

"Okay. Whatever you say." I wiped the smile from my face. I would do whatever she said since she made the part that I was apprehensive about the most simple. I was glad Leah was so compliable could she really be this agreeable. I wondered how long this attitude would last.

"Let's just get going before I change my mind."

"Uh okay." I was tried from the entire day of running through miles of forest but I had to run. She might change her mind if we didn't start. I needed her to come back with me and I wouldn't lose that chance just because I was sleepy. I would just have to push through it. Subsequently I yawned after the thought.

Leah went to go phase and I did the same and we were off. We traveled back the way we came and it was pretty easy because my scent was fresh. Leah noticeable was running faster than me but no matter how hard I tried to keep up I couldn't. She soon saw that I was tried so she slowed down her pace to one that was agreeable with mine. We were still running faster but compared to Leah's untouchable speed we were slow. She wanted to go faster but she controlled herself for my sake. She read through my thoughts easily. Since I was half asleep, I didn't have enough control to keep her out. I got bored of her reading my thoughts and playing them in her head so I decided it was my turn to ask her some questions.

_What type of interaction with humans did you have? _

_I was teaching a yoga class every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday if you must know._

_Yoga! Wait what you were actually teaching a yoga class to other people? _I couldn't believe it Leah teaching yoga she was always the one with uncontrollable temper besides Paul. Leah did seem to be calmer today then I remembered her was the reason behind it?

_Yes I was teaching to Yoga to other people. After a while of running in the forest alone it got to be boring and lonely and the food options were getting more and more tiresome. So I stopped in a town and found a yoga place. It was night and that seemed to be the only place that was still open. They were having a late class. The owner, who was also the teacher at the time, saw me and she felt pity for me. I was wearing my dirty cutoff jeans and a raggedy tank top. She walked up to me after the class and asked if I was new in town because she never seen me before. I told her I was new in town and this was my first day here. She asked if I wanted to join in to the class but I told her I couldn't afford it. I actually didn't have any money but she didn't need to know that. So she said she would let me take classes there for free on the condition that I would clean her yoga studio every night after I took a yoga session. I agreed and the next day I showed up for my first session. She then noticed that I had no yoga clothes only the clothes I was wearing. She again felt pity for me but she didn't ask me what happened to all my clothes. She helped buy me clothes on the condition that I took more responsibility and cleaned her studio every night with the exception of Sunday. I agreed again. So I saw her a lot and took classes there. We became good friends soon and I was actually making some money. Not a lot but I had enough money to go out to eat when I got bored of forest creatures. I also had enough money to pay for my own yoga classes and I was able to buy clothes for everyday of the week. My life was going good. I had a good friend for the first time in a long while and I was almost happy. My stress and anger tantrums were easier to control. I was calm for once and it was easy to do. After about two years working for her I took more responsibility in the studio, I started to teach my first class. Raquel kept giving more responsibility until I taught the morning classes six days a week. It's kind of funny the more responsibility I got the more tranquil I felt. Yoga of course was pretty easy for me, flexibility was not a problem. So I excelled in it easily. Everyone in town started to notice me yet none of them knew where I lived, not even Raquel. I told her I lived a little out of town but she never knew where. She was sometimes curious about what my situation had been previous to meeting her, but she never really pushed the subject. I told her I was in a volatile relationship and I had to escape from him. She believed me and never questioned details about it. But I knew she wanted to know more. Then recently I told her I had to go home because a family member had died and I had to go to the funeral and deal with the will. But in truth, I was going back to the res to attend my mom's wedding and you know the rest of the story. _

_Wow. That's one incredible story. Who would have ever thought Leah Clearwater would be a yoga instructor. Volatile relationship and funeral nice lies, I'm impressed. _

_Thanks. It was fun to keep up a fake charade. _There was something changed with Leah. She was definitely changed, she was calm tranquil and she wasn't hostile. I liked this Leah. Maybe everyone should do Yoga.

We traveled like this for the rest of the trip we got along perfectly sleeping during the day and traveling during the night. She never got on my nerves once. I was completely surprised. Her thoughts which I thought would still be bitter had barely any trace of bitterness. She looked at everything from a different point of view. There were barely any similarities between these different Leahs. I wondered if the old Leah was even in there or if she just disappeared all together. But more importantly I was almost home, I had found Leah and I was going to see Nessie soon.

**Another chapter done! Thanks for reading **** everybody!**


	4. Chapter 4

4. Starvation Is Never a Good Idea

The journey back went along as smoothly as it had started. Our conversations were easy, no conflicts, and occasionally we had some races. She won every time, but not by much. Seth had been wrong; I was obviously not faster than Leah. Maybe I was faster than before, but I was no match for Leah. No one was. We finally got back home on the dawn of the fifth day of my mission. It had been so long since I had seen Nessie. Now I no longer felt pain when I said her name because we were back home.

We rushed into the clearing in front of the cottage and immediately Leah read my thoughts and knew what we were doing there. Nessie came running out towards me to greet me.

_Oh!_ Leah sounded extremely shocked.

_What? _I searched her thought for the reason behind her surprise.

_She just looks so grown up…in person. In your head she looked like she was a child._

_What are you talking? _

_Maybe your memories are from a while back or maybe she just grew again since you last saw her. _

_No. The memories of her you saw in my head are from the days before I left. They are recent; and she hasn't grown in the past five days. Her growing has progressively slowed down. _

_No but she looks so much older. She looks like she's an adult not like the childish person I saw in memories. It's like she looks different because you- _She didn't finish her thought instead she started to think, _I'm going to go phase I want to meet her in person I'll be back. _

_Ummm Okay._

"Jake!" Nessie exclaimed as she rushed over to me and tried to wrap her arms around my neck. She couldn't reach to the height of my mane, so I bent my head over. She clutched on and I pulled her off the ground by lifting my head. She laughed.

"Jake, hey put me down!" She nearly screamed in excitement. I hadn't lifted her up since she was little little and I guess she missed that.

I sat her down, as she wished, and before she could ask to be lifted again Leah returned.

"Hi" Nessie greeted Leah somewhat hesitantly.

"Hi Nessie. I'm Leah Clearwater." This Leah greeted Nessie with no hurt or resentment it was pure sincerity that I heard in her voice.

"Clearwater? Are you related to Seth Clearwater?" Nessie looked bewildered at her. She must have been so confused.

"Yeah. Actually he's my brother."

"Oh." Nessie stared blankly into the sky, she always did this when she was thinking deeply about something.

I couldn't stand it anymore. I needed to explain things to her. I ran over to the closest tree and phased but I quickly realized that I had no bottoms to wear. Fortunately, Edward came around the tree and handed me a pair of khaki shorts.

"I thought you might need them." Edward said with a crooked smile emerging on his face.

"I bet you _thought._" I said in an accusing tone and then added "but thanks anyways"

I put the pants on and started walking back towards Nessie, Leah, and Bella. I hoped nothing horrible had happened since I turned my back. They seemed to be getting along. Leah was smiling warmly and so was Bella. It didn't look like Leah harbored any negative feelings towards Bella. Nessie also smiled back but there was something off in the way she smiled. Her smile was still stunningly perfect but there was something different about it.

"Hey Leah, you should probably head back to the reservation. Everyone is kind of waiting for you, even though most of them are most likely asleep. But still they've been waiting for you to arrive."

"Ya, your right. Are you coming?" She looked at me and understood my answer from the silence. "That's all right, I should have known. I think I remember my way home." She smiled but looked scared at the same time.

"If you need me to come with you I will." I said trying to comfort this more likable Leah.

"No, no, no. I'll see you guys later" She waved goodbye and started walking away.

"Wait a second please" I heard Edward say. My heart skipped a beat. I had no idea what he was going to say but whatever he said I hope it didn't set off the old Leah's temper.

Leah turned around and Edward began speaking. "I just wanted to give you a head's up that today is Thanksgiving and the wedding is tomorrow"

It was Thanksgiving already. I could see the shock on Leah's face that mirrored my own. We both had had no concept of time for the past week.

Edward continued, "I just wanted to tell you first so you wouldn't be surprised when you got home. Also perhaps we will see you later this afternoon. Goodbye, Leah. Hope you have a good welcoming home." That was generously nice of Edward to say to someone like Leah.

"Oh." She mouthed that it was barely audible to hear her voice. She was just as taken back as I was. "Um yeah Edward thanks for telling me. I-I'll guess see you later this afternoon."

She furrowed her eyebrows slightly together and started running home.

"Nice haircut Jake" I darted my attention back to Nessie.

"Thanks." I said. I wasn't sure whether she was being sarcastic or not, she was eyeing my haircut. I had no idea how my hair looked. Leah had cut it the other day after I had told her I needed a haircut. I assumed it looked good but now I wasn't so convinced.

Bella intertwined into the conversation "When did you get it done?"

"Leah actually did on our way home." I ran my fingers self consciously through my hair but soon discovered that it was short to do that. It was longer than the crop I'd gotten when I joined the pack but I still felt bare.

"I like it. It suits you." Bella said with a smile that reminded me of my best friend.

"Cool. So today is really thanksgiving?"

"Ya it is" Nessie nearly screeched "I'm starving!"

"That is what you get for going on a hunger strike Renesmee." I heard Edward reproach Renesmee. She'd gone on a hunger strike? Why on Earth she would do that? She might have vampire parents that didn't need to feed everyday but she was half human and humans needed to eat and drink daily or else they might die. I shuttered at the thought of my Nessie dying. I wouldn't be able to bare without her. I tried to shove off the thought and focus on the conversation that was ahead of me.

"Nessie you need to eat! Are you crazy? Why would you wanna do such a dangerous thing?"

She looked away from my eyes and looked shyly on the ground. Edward answered me instead. "She went on a hunger strike for you. She was determined not to eat until you back home."

I looked incredulously at Nessie. "Why would you do such a thing like that?"

She looked up at me, her big brown eyes blinking. She almost looked embarrassed or maybe ashamed. A veil of her curls wrapped around her face that looked almost like they were protecting her. Then she opened her mouth, "Because I missed you." I kept my eyes focused on her eyes and she did the same. I was absolutely petrified. I had no idea what to say. On the one hand, I hated myself for leaving her because it caused her physical pain; she hadn't eaten since I left. But then again I was almost so amazed that she had missed me so much that she was doing physical actions to show how much she cared for me. I was rendered speechless.

"Nessie you didn't have to do that for me." I tried to end the serious moment with the joke. "On the bright side you'll be empty so you'll be able to eat all the Thanksgiving food in the world."

She brightened up. "Yum that's true. I'm hungry just thinking about it and I barely woke up ten minutes ago."

I hadn't gone to bed in twenty-four hours, I was tired. I bet Leah was too.

"Before we move on to a different subject I would like to inform you that Bella and I will not be joining Thanksgiving for obvious reason. We will actually rejoin the rest of the Cullen family today when you two are feasting. We won't return until tomorrow morning, but don't worry we will be here in time for the wedding. Bella and I were also wondering if you would uh" Edward searched for the right word. "Babysit Renesmee for us while we are gone for the night?"

"Sure Edward no problem I'm down to _babysit_ Renesmee" I looked at Renesmee making sure she heard my emphasis on the word babysit.

She glared up at me and I played along. "If you don't behave I'm going to have to put you in a time out." She couldn't hold her glare and smiled in place of her scowl. She could never be mad at me.

Edward and Bella went back inside the house and left Nessie and I to hang out together.

"I missed you" I started.

"I missed you more" She objected.

"I highly doubt that Nessie."

"Okay whatever but who was that girl, Leah Clearwater." I would have rather talked about other subject besides Leah but Nessie had asked me so I had no other choice but to give her what she wanted.

"She's Seth older sister. She going to be the bridesmaid at Charlie and Sue's wedding. Remember your mom was talking about the possibility of being the bridesmaid at the wedding?"

"Ya I remember Jake. But she's a wolf and she obviously female."

Oh she caught me completely off guard. We never spoke about Leah and Leah had never seen Nessie before, except for in our heads. So unsurprisingly Nessie should not have known who Leah was and her situation. "She's a wolf and she is the only girl wolf in the pack. It's a long story."

"Well shorten it!" She exclaimed.

"Okay hmmm how can I say this, she basically just lives on her own now since she is the only girl wolf. It is more comfortable for her if she lives that way." I hoped my simplified shortened version of the story would satisfy Nessie's curiosity.

She looked up at the sky again. "So you brought her here, from wherever she was, so she could attend her Miss Sue's wedding."

"Yup that's it Nessie."

"She'll be my step auntie once they're married?"

"Hmm I haven't really thought about that but your right I suppose. As of tomorrow she'll be part of the family."

We said goodbye to Bella and Edward before we headed over to the Clearwater's for the Thanksgiving meal. Bella and Edward were somewhat hesitant to leave Nessie with me, though they had done it over a hundred times. We walked over to the Clearwater's , instead of running. We normally would run but because I was tired and hungry and she was tired and hungry, it was just my luck, we both walked along together peacefully.

Nessie started a conversation on our way over there, "So I thought Native Americans didn't celebrate Thanksgiving but I guess I'm wrong?"

I started laughing even though it was a legitimate question. "Most don't but we do."

"Awe so I see you're the exception."

"Exactly. Aren't I always?" She and I both began laughing together in harmony. When Nessie stopped our harmonious symphony, she stared up at me a little longer than normal. I had gotten a haircut; I thought the haircut was the solution to the weird stares. I didn't understand. "Nessie is there something wrong with my face?" She shook her head as if exiting out of a trance. Then she looked up at me wildly blinking her chocolate brown eyes.

"There are zero thing wrong with your face. It's absolutely perfect." She said with an unexpectedly bold smile.

I smiled an audacious smile back at her. "Well I guess I already knew that."

She beamed a radiant smile then shook her head and became serious. "So back to my original question, why do you guys celebrate Thanksgiving?"

"It's kind of ironic, huh?" She nodded her head up and down. "Well for us, it's more of an excuse to hold a celebration where all the family gets together, rather than a celebration of whatever they teach in the textbooks. The stories in the history books are bogus."

"I think it is so cool you guys do that. No one really cares about the Pilgrims anyways. Thanksgiving is just an overly commercialized holiday. I'm glad you guys center it around the family instead getting wrapped up in the superficial part of it."

I was surprised about her evaluation on our Thanksgiving celebration situation. She was so smart. I had never given it much thought before. It surprised me but then again Nessie managed to surprise me everyday with something she did.

When we got to the Clearwater's the entire gang was there. That made me happy. My dad was there with my sister Rachel, which meant Paul was here. Rebecca couldn't come again since she decided to stay in Hawaii this year. I saw Seth and Sue with Leah, it looked like they were getting along fine. That relieved me. I had been a good Alpha, for today at least. Charlie came awkwardly and greeted us at the door. He beckoned us to come inside with a hand gesture. Charlie was so funny to watch whenever he saw Renesmee. He was always paralyzed in shock by the progress of Nessie's growth.

"Hi Ness." He said with sparkling admiring eyes.

He opened his arms and Nessie ran into to them with too much force. He let out a gruff sound as the air whooshed out of his lungs. She realized her mistake and let go of Charlie. Despite that, he smiled and welcomed his granddaughter back into his arms. She hugged him again, but this time she did it with less strength.

"Hi grandpa!" She exclaimed. "I missed you so much." She gave Charlie a peck on the cheek. And I swear, I think he blushed a little. Nessie and Bella, before she transformed, and Charlie all shared the same trait; the always blushed.

"Hey Jake. How's it going?"

"It's going good." Charlie never forgot about the day I told him, more showed him, I was a werewolf. He seemed to always act differently around me since that day, but maybe someday he'd get over it. In any case, he was marrying into the werewolf family so he'd better get used the idea seeing werewolves. I knew he would be able to do it, but seriously everyone was giving me weird looks recently so couldn't he at least stop for the day. "How are you doing?"

"Everything is fine." He shifted his attention to Nessie. "Where's your mother?" He asked her.

"I thought Mom told you they were going to visit Grandpa Carlisle today?"

"She did. I just thought they would come say hello before they left." Charlie had a frown forming on his face making his crow's feet disappear.

I cut in, "We're here gramps. We don't need boring old Bella to have a party. If I remember correctly she didn't do well at parties anyway."

He smiled and said, "She took after me. We both hate the parties."

"Well I guess that sucks for you because you're in Quiluete territory and we party."

He smiled with his lips together. "Great." Then he turned around and started walking away mumbling something about werewolves.

Nessie let out a giggle and then all the eyes in the room were on her. She always captivated the attention of others by doing one thing or another, but her laugh was the most potent. It was annoying when we went out and I saw other men looking at her, not boys but men. Guys her age were usually too shy to even look at her. But men gazed all they wanted. What the hell is wrong in their heads she is only sixteen for crying out loud.

Sue came up to greet us and was her usual kind-hearted self. She loved Nessie but then again who didn't. After satisfying her Nessie craving, she greeted and thanked me. She didn't need to specify what she thanked me for because I already knew.

It was still early in the day but Nessie and I were starving to death. Leah overheard us talking and asked us if we wanted to help her make some bread before the big lunch. My reply, "Hell ya I'm freakin' starving. I haven't eaten since that day we caught that massive moose together."

Her eyes widened and she laughed. "Me too. I haven't eaten since that day. I'm so hungry. That moose was pretty colossal. I'm positive it must have been prehistoric or something."

"What if it was a shape shifter like you guys?" Nessie said in a grim voice. She had to be kidding that moose couldn't have been a shape shifter even though it was rather large… It did take two of us two take it down… Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God we killed someone!

I gave Leah a horrified expression but she broke out laughing. "Imagine it, someone phasing into a moose!" She was right. Why would anyone shape-shift into that. As far as I was concerned we were the only tribe that could shape-shift. I joined her laughter. Nessie was wrong for once, she must really be hungry because she was going delusional. When we finally caught our composure Leah was nearly crying. It was official I liked this Leah better.

"Nessie's hunger must be talking." I used as an explanation for Nessie's random anomalous outburst.

Suddenly, Nessie's cheeks flared up and she said, "I am starving so can we just make the bread already." She sounded every word through her teeth. She must be having one of her rare(not so rare anymore) tantrums. Before I could say anything to calm her down she stormed off into the kitchen. Wow I thought she only got mad at her parents but now she was mad at me. I had to fix this. She couldn't be mad at me, she just couldn't. I followed her into the kitchen leaving Leah behind.

Nessie had her face buried in the pantry, looking for ingredients I supposed. "Nessie?" She whipped her head around and I was bracing myself for the worse.

"Yeah Jake?" She replied in her normal mesmerizing voice. I studied her face, then looked at the flour in her hand. She didn't have a trace of resentment in her face like she did just few seconds ago. She got over that tantrum fast. I was glad that she couldn't stay angry at me no matter the situation. I hoped she wouldn't redirect her anger Leah because she could not be mad at me. Leah was doing so well, it would only take one little incident to piss her off. Then run off like a fire cracker.

Leah walked into the room and my muscles tensed. "I'm sorry Nessie if you thought I was making fun of you, because I wasn't."

The hairs on the back of my neck started to rise. Just one little altercation and Leah's years of yoga classes would be for nothing. _Please don't be mad at Leah. Please don't be mad at Leah…_

"It's okay. I forgive you. I don't know what happened I just overreacted but thanks for apologizing." Nessie hadn't freaked out .All the muscles in my body relaxed. Nessie was her normal perfectly polite self again. "Too be honest, it wasn't even you who made me angry. Jake made me psych out." She looked at me and grinned. I grinned back at her but I was still kind of confused about what had just happened.

Note to self: Among promising to be the best Alpha I can be. I also must never piss Nessie off again.

My stomach churned but it wasn't from hunger. "Sounds like someone is very _very_hungry" Leah said in a babying tone to me. Nessie and Leah shared a chuckle and my stomach felt better. At least they were getting along.

For the duration of our bread making time, Nessie and I had managed to have a flour fight and gone unnoticed by Leah and everyone else. When we put the loaves in the oven Leah finally noticed that we were covered nearly head to toe in white dust. She gasped and then said that we needed to be hosed down before her mom saw us. Luckily her mom was upstairs stairs getting old photo albums. We snuck out the front door, unfortunately not before everyone saw us. They looked at us like we were all crazy, but we would be in the clear as long as Sue didn't see us. Leah showed us where the hose was and that's when all hell broke loose because Nessie and I started to have a water hose fight. I was winning considering that I was not as soaked as she was. She was more drenched and clean and I was a watery flour mess. I gave her a chance to get back at me, and sooner than I expected I was clean head to toe in dripping wet clothes. We sat outside waiting for our clothes to dry with our body heat. Well, dry enough to the point where it wasn't noticeable they were drenched. Since our body temperatures ran slightly higher the drying process was much quicker. We were in the middle of discussing who had won the battles today when we smelled the bread in the kitchen. We both caught the divine aroma and bolted straight for the house. We ran in a disorderly manner but once we reached the door of the house we composed ourselves.

In the kitchen, Leah was taking the bread out of the oven to cool. I wanted to stuff the entire loaf into my mouth. Heck, I wanted to stuff all four loaves into my mouth. I started salivating. "Those look really good."

"I agree." Said Nessie, expressing my same amount of excitement I had.

We stood there staring, "When do you think they'll be ready to devour?" Nessie asked breaking our silence.

"Now or maybe…now but I'm pretty sure NOW is good." I suggested.

Sue walked in the kitchen and saw us ogling at the loaves. "Hey guys having fun?" She asked with a perplexed look on her face.

We enlightened her on our situation. She then proceeded to as ask us, "Want to help me slice them up and put it on the table."

_NO_, _I wanna eat them._

"Sure we'll help you Mrs,Clearwater." Nessie said in her usual well-mannered voice.

I looked at Nessie giving her a disappointed look. She looked at me and smiled her perfect smile. I would never be able to say no when she did that. We sliced the bread and put them in decorative lacey baskets. Alice would probably fall head over heels for them. Gosh I knew the bloodsucker too well. I walked out of the kitchen carefully balancing three of the four baskets in my arms. Nessie followed carrying one basket. We placed them on the dining table, specially elongated for the today's event.

People flocked to the oven fresh bread. Before anyone reached them I grabbed several slices for myself and Nessie. She devoured the pieces I gave her. I did the same, though I think I inhaled the food rather than chewing it. The slice tasted heavenly and didn't settle my hunger. I wanted more. I looked at Nessie who had the same look of dissatisfaction as I did. Leah called to us from inside the kitchen. We went to her and saw another loaf in front of her on the island.

"Ta-da!" She called. "I made sure I made another one for us but we have to eat it quick. I don't want my mom to see us because she'll tell us not to ruin our appetite and blah blah blah. You understand." She said with a sweet smile.

"When did you have time to make it Leah?" Nessie said with an eager smile on her face.

"I made it when you guys were having the flour fight." She smiled at Nessie and Nessie smiled back a little embarrassed. Leah cut the loaf into 3 equal parts. We all gulped down our own portions. I was surprised Nessie could eat so much for her small size but then again she hadn't eaten in days.

"Thanks Leah so so much. I really needed that. It hit the spot." Nessie said while cleaning her crumbs.

"You're welcome. Just make sure no one else knows. Especially Seth, he is starving he would kill me if he knew."

We were stuffed for the rest of the day until it was time to eat the Thanksgiving meal. I sat at the dining table and as the food was set on the table my stomach fall of a sudden felt empty. The food was great and the dinner conversation was even better. They mostly seemed to revolve around Leah, but I was fine with that. Everyone seemed drawn to Leah like they had been years ago, before Sam dumped her. She could barely eat in-between the questions that were asked of her. I knew she was hungry, she hadn't eaten since the last time I ate, so I deflected the conversation from her. I started babbling something about Nessie and immediately everyone was drawn to Nessie and started talking to her. I looked at Leah and gave her a wink then she understood and gave me a 'thank you' look. I shrugged and joined in on the conversation.

The day seemed to pass quickly along, quicker than I would have liked. When we parted it was nearly dark. The sun would set probably any minute. To stuffed to run we walked home, like we had done this morning, when we were too hungry.

"Jake?" Nessie asked in her curious voice.

"Mhm."

"Leah's really interesting."

I stared at Nessie, curious to where she was going with this. "Mhm."

"I'm glad you went to get her. I had no idea who she was at first, but now I know and I'm glad you got her." Nessie had heard part of Leah's bio story during the Thanksgiving meal.

"Well I'm glad you like her."

"Yeah she's okay…She's pretty."

"Yeah I guess she is." I always thought Leah was pretty. Everyone thought she was pretty, until Sam imprinted on Emily and Leah became ugly with hate.

"I overheard something else, but I'm not exactly sure if I heard it right."

"Mhm." I didn't know where she was going and I didn't like it.

"So Sam broke up with Leah for Leah's cousin? Leah's so perfect though, I don't understand why he would do that. I thought he was nice. What kind of jerk dumps someone like Leah. I can't believe Emily could be so conniving… were they having an affair or something behind Leah's back?"

I stared in shock at her. I had no idea how to respond. My mouth fell open, I couldn't believe she had heard all that. How was I going to explain it to her? I managed to stutter out, "Uhh…that's basically it." She didn't need to know everything. I would let her believe Sam and Emily were having an affair behind Leah's back as long as it kept her from the truth about imprinting. She didn't need to know about that subject for a long time.

" Grr. I can't believe they would do something like that. They ruined Leah's life. I can't believe Sam was such a…such a douche bag! And Emily's such a…she's a slut! I would never do anything like that to my best friend/ cousin! Even though, I don't have any cousins and my best friend is you. I would never do that to you!" I coutinued to listen to her firery rant. I almost was shocked how many cuss words she knew. She never ever cussed, but I was too out of it to tell her cussing was a bad habit. I felt bad for not telling her the truth, and worse for letting her believe Sam and Leah were horrible people. But in all truth to the outside eye, Sam and Leah looked like the bad guys. When Bella and Edward came back we would have to talk about this subject of imprinting. We had previously decided not to tell her about imprinting until she was all grown up but would that need to change?

I finally gained my speech back and spoke back to Nessie to stop her rant. "Nessie you need to stop cussing. That's not a good habit and I know I do it all the time but I'm a bad kid. I've always been, but if you parents come back and they find you cussing they will never let me be alone with you again. Edward hates me enough as it is and after this he'll probably rip my head off."

"I don't care who my dad says I can see and can't see. I would sneak out to see you."

She was being so complicated, so stubborn like her mother. "No, Nessie you need to listen to your parents. They know what's right for you and when you start getting angry at them, they have no idea what to do. They love you and it hurts them when you talk back to them. So please stop cussing, so Edward will continue to let me see you. And if you don't wanna stop for your parents, do it for me. I couldn't live if I wasn't able to see you for the rest of my life."

She looked at me in adoration, her big brown eyes flittering from one eye to the other. "Okay Jake I'll try to stop. I'll try to control myself. I don't want to hurt them and I don't want to be banned from seeing you. I'll try not to use curse words in my vocabulary but it's just that…that makes me so angry! Leah loved Sam and he broke her heart into millions of little pieces. He crushed her and he doesn't even care because he's with his pregnant wife! That just makes me so mad. I just don't understand how he could do that to someone he loved." She took her eyes away from mine and looked up at the sky. She was thinking deeply.

"Also, I want you to promise me that you will never ever starve yourself for me or anyone else again. Promise?" It was more of a command than a question.

"I promise." She said in a sigh. She looked away into the stars again.

We arrived in the cottage in silence. It was awkwardly quiet so I tried to turn the mood around. As soon as we were at home I turned around and said, "Yeah now the party can finally start. No adult supervision needed for this party!"

"Jake aren't you an adult?" She asked with an amused smile on her face.

"Yeah, but I am and will always be a kid at heart." I smiled a huge grin at her and squinted my eyes shut.

"Okay, I guess that's right. That explains why you're so immature."

"Hey I wouldn't be talking I am older than you be several years."

"Ya but girls mature faster than boys and I am exceptionally mature for my age. Look at me for crying out loud, I'm probably more mature than you." She giggled and walked off to the bathroom. "I'm going to take a shower."

I was glad I lightened her mood. When she was happy I was happy. When she was sad I wanted to die. Thank goodness I could always make her laugh.

**Thanks for reading! Please leave comments! I'll try to get some more chapters up over the holidays! Happy holidays Everyone **


	5. Chapter 5

5. Nothing Good Can Come Out of This

I was channel surfing when Nessie came out of the shower.

"Hey Jake." She said in an animated tone. Nessie's voice was so excited that I had to look at her. I saw her looking at me, eyes wide with anticipation.

"Hi Renesmee."

Nessie leaped onto the bed I was lying on and started crawling to me. She cuddled next to me, she usually did this when she was cold. I wrapped my arm around her to help the warming process move along quicker. She snuggled deep into my side. I sighed in content. I could do this for a long long time.

I heard her heart beat faster than normal, well normal for her. It was thudding so fast I thought it might thud right out of her chest.

"Are you okay Nessie?" I looked at her full of concern.

Her heart slowed down a tad bit. "Yeah I'm just cold."

"Okay well I can fix that." I pulled her tighter in and wrapped my other arm around her.

Her heart sped up even more. "Nessie your heart…I don't think holding you is working."

"It probably would work better if…" She stopped speaking.

"Nessie it would work better if what?"

"Well you know what they say." She said quietly.

"No I don't know. What do they say Ness?"

"You know, survival tip number one."

"What? Make sure not to play in the yellow snow." I joked, cracking a smile when I made eye contact with her.

She looked deep into my eyes. "No. The best way to get warm is if you're naked."

I smiled and started laughing but she didn't. When I composed myself I saw her cheeks were flushing a beautiful shade of pink. I put my arms around her again. "You were serious."

"Yes, I was serious" She said as she pushed herself away from me. "That's what you're supposed to do in survival situations when you're cold." She looked disappointed.

"Ness you are completely one-hundred percent right. That's what they tell you to do in those survival shows."

She huffed and then smiled mischievously. "Want to try it?"

What was up with Nessie today? She had turned completely lunatic. Didn't she know I was twenty-three and she I was six. That was sick, I was no pervert. I was her protector and best friend "Nessie-" I began but then noticed her hair was drenched and still dripping.

"Honey, Nessie, please dry your hair baby, your going to catch a cold."

She sat up and moved away from my arm and turned her body towards me."Okay, first of all I will not catch a cold my immune system is very high and second, I am not a baby. Look at me. She hopped off the bed and I looked at her. Her bronze hair when wet reached to the top of her hips. Then I saw she was wearing tiny powder blue shorts that barely covered anything more than her underwear. Her legs were fully exposed. She was also wearing a little skimpy cherry tank top that complimented her blushing cheeks. Her clothes were so revealing, no wonder she was cold. She was basically naked.

"Put some clothes on Nessie before you freeze your ass off."

"I am wearing clothes! Can't you see them?"

"Barely, I mostly see your skin. I hope you don't wear these clothes in front of other people. That would be inappropriate."

"Well I think I am covered up enough. All my private parts are hidden. Anyways I wore these pajamas last week when you were gone, Nahuel didn't seem to mind."

Nahuel! "_Nahuel _was here?" I growled his name. I was furious and Nessie knew that.

"Yeah, he was here for two days and two nights while you were gone. He slept in your room." I sniffed around my room. I could smell a faint smell that didn't belong to any vampires or Nessie. It was Nahuel. I sustained a growl from ripping out of my chest. I despised him. I hated him from the deepest part of my core. I should have been able to smell him from a mile away but I couldn't. "Mom and Dad cleaned your room so you wouldn't be able to smell him." She said with a taunting smile that made me angry. My hands started to shake but I calmed myself down before I got out of control.

"Why in hell was he here?" I asked her trying to control my voice but I couldn't. That creature had slept in my bed and in my room. I was pissed.

"He wanted to see me." She said with a smile on her face. It was a cruel smile that made my heart sink.

"He wanted to see you. Why?" I hissed through my teeth.

"I don't know…something about how he missed me" She said nonchalantly while twirling a lock of her wet hair. It pissed me off how she didn't care about this conversation as much as I did.

I got off the bed on the opposite side of where she was and I just looked at her. She was still paying more attention to her hair than she was to me. "Nessie, what the hell? Look at me!"

"No."

I quickly realized we were having our first fight. We disagreed before but they would blow off in a matter of seconds and they never ever made me tense and genuinely angry.

"Nessie please look up at me." I pleaded with her trying to take all the malice out of my voice.

She looked up at me.

"Why did he come to visit?" I asked again hoping I would get a different answer.

"I told you he wanted to see me."

"But why?" I returned.

"He wanted to see how I was doing with my progress and how far along I was."

The hairs on the back of my neck rose as I realized what his intentions were. He was there to check out _my Nessie_. His intentions were clear he wanted to steal away the most important thing in my life for himself. That hybrid was a dead man. If he wanted my Renesmee, he would have to go through me. And that was a death wish.

Why would Nessie wear this outfit around Nahuel. Did she want to come across as provocative in front of Nahuel? I could only hope she didn't want or like him, because it was so obvious he wanted her. Why didn't Edward stop Nessie from dressing like that? He hated when Nessie wore clothes that were too short or too low, even more than I did. Then the thought occurred to me, maybe he didn't mind. Maybe, he wanted Nahuel and Nessie to be together. I cringed at the thought, I knew Edward didn't want me to be with his daughter, but I thought it was because no one would ever be good enough for his daughter. But Edward wanted Nahuel to be with his daughter. Was that possible? Did he think I was the only one not good enough for his daughter? I would perfect for her, despite the fact that I had already imprinted upon her. Did he really want someone like Nahuel for Nessie? I couldn't believe it. I fell back onto the bed.

Nessie saw the tortured look on my face and climbed back onto the bed where I lay. She wedged herself between my arm and my body. "I'm sorry Jake. Can we just forget what I just said and watch TV."

I grabbed the remote and started surfing through the channels until I saw a familiar movie playing. I was conscious of the TV playing but I was not paying attention. The longer I stayed in my room the more I wanted to get out. It didn't smell as bad as it had the last time I had slept here but the air still burned my noise. The longer I stayed lying on my bed the more potent Naheul's odor became. His scent was everywhere and overwhelming. His smell wasn't bad like a vampires but my body burned everytime I inhailed. I quickly realized this was a different kind of burn I was experiencing.

I woke up in the morning and saw Nessie was still nestled in my arms. She usually woke up earlier than I did. I wondered what alerted my senses to wake up. I heard the sounds of someone approaching, sounded like an Edward, smelled like an Edward, must be Edward. I quickly pushed Nessie away, though he already knew she slept in my arms. I was habit though, he got uncomfortable whenever Nessie and I were too close, even though my intentions were harmless. I still didn't see her the way everyone thought I did. I thought Edward of all people would understand this, since he could read my mind.

Quickly, Bella and Edward appeared in the doorway of my room. Bella knocked while Edward had already pranced into the room.

"Morning." I said.

Bella seemed surprised. "Oh Jake you startled me. I wasn't sure you were awake yet but then you said 'Morning' so loudly in your deep voice it startled me. It broke the silence and I wasn't expecting that." Bella's facial expression looked like she would have blushed if she still could.

It was true. I wanted to be asleep right now but I couldn't. I too, was surprised by how strong my voice was even though I felt so groggy.

"Jacob, if you want to go back to sleep go right ahead, be my guest. Nessie is still dreaming." Edward said.

I just shook my head up and down, too groggy and sleepy to respond. I shut my eyes and I fell back asleep.

When I woke up again, the sun was up and lit the entire house. I guessed it would be a sunny day, what luck for the wedding. I rolled over to my side and saw Nessie was gone. Then I smelled food. How odd the Cullens never had cooked food in their house, seeing as they didn't need to eat. Maybe they got a kitchen installed since I'd been gone. I went into the front living room and saw paper bags with carry-out food items in them. They smelled good.

"Morning Jake!" Nessie screeched, while holding a giant breakfast burrito in her tiny finger.

"Hey! Morning Everybody!" I replied back.

"Glad to see you're up Sleeping Beauty." Bella joked to me. "We were asking Nessie how Thanksgiving went."

I sat on the floor next to Nessie and started eating my breakfast burrito. Nessie went on about all the details of the Thanksgiving dinner and I just nodded and smiled along with her. I noticed Bella's and Edward's eyes were a rich golden color and they barely had any noticeable dark circles underneath their eyes. They must have had a really good thanksgiving with the rest of their family. "How was your trip?"

Bella eyes widened with excitement. "Quite decent really, I caught a wildcat."

"Bella love, he was actually asking how our visit with the family was." Edward corrected.

"Oh." She laughed and continued. "It was great I got to see Alice, Esme, Carlisle, Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie, Tanya, Kate, Eleazar and Carmen." I could put faces to most of the names but who were Tanya, Kate, Eleazar, and Carmen. "Everyone sends their season's greetings to you guys and they wished you could have come." More like they only wished Nessie could have come. "Alice also bought you guys some clothes. They're in the bag over there."

I looked at the bag, it was from some store that I couldn't pronounce the name of without looking like an idiot. Just like Alice to get all fancy. "Does she even know my size? I'm pretty big."

"No I'm pretty sure they are the right size. Alice saw you wear them in a vision and I must say from what I saw they fit you quite nicely." Edward answered.

"Okay Edward I'm not gunna lie that but that was a little creepy man, coming from your mouth and all."

He just rolled his eyes and Bella and Nessie giggled. "Jake you should probably finish up eating and go put on the clothes Alice bought you. Same goes for you to Renesemee, mommy promised grandpa Charlie we would be there early to help."

I grabbed the bag and reached in for whatever Alice had bought me. "Hey Edward tell Alice I say thanks for the clothes."

"Sure thing." He said as he walked away with Bella into their room to get ready.

I pulled out a pink dress holding it up in the air. "This better not be for me."

"It's not." Nessie jumped and yanked it from my grasp. "It's mine and it gorgeous!" She nearly squealed as she then ran off to her room to get ready.

I reached down in the bag and grabbed whatever was left and walked to the bathroom to take a shower. After a long needed shower, I put on the clothes and to my surprise they fit perfectly. That didn't happen often. I would have to thank Alice in person. I went outside into the living room and saw Bella and Edward lounging on the couch as if they were human. They both turned their heads when they saw me.

"Wow. Jake you look really good." Bella said smiling at me up and down.

"Thanks." I said a little hesitant. Bella never gave me compliments like that. Except for that time when she called me beautiful but she just busted her head open on a rock so it didn't count.

"Told you it would fit, bud." 'Bud'? Why did Edward use that word. Maybe he was over whatever aversion he held over me in the past week. Well for whatever reason it was good to be his 'bud' again.

"It does fit pretty well and Bella, hun, thanks for telling me I look good. But I didn't need you to tell me that, I already knew that." I smirked at them both.

"Jacob Black you are the most egotistical person I will ever know." She threw a decorative pillow at me. It knocked the air out of my lungs and I fell backwards. Only a vampire could make a something so soft as a pillow hurt so much. I started coughing as I tried to regain my breath.

"Ha! That's what you deserve Jacob Black."

"Now that wasn't nice Bella using all your strength on him while he was in his human form. I'm not saying he didn't deserve it but" Edward trailed off looked my way and gave me a crooked smile. Within a second he pulled me up and I was standing straight up again. "Thought you could use a little assistance."

"thh…" I tried to say thanks but I couldn't get to the 'anks' part because I still didn't have enough air in me to speak.

" No problem Jacob." He said still with that smile of his upon his face. I didn't know whether he was laughing at me or whether it was a friendly smile. I guess it didn't matter though, I was standing up again after all.

When I finally regained my air I said, "I think I'm gunna go back to the bathroom I forgot my clothes in there."

"Too late Nessie is in there." Edward said with a hint of laughter in his voice.

"I thought she already took a shower today?" I asked confused.

"She did." Edward said looking at me with wide eyes and a smile on his face. Before I could respond back to him Nessie walked out of the bathroom.

"I can hear you guys from inside the bathroom." she said as she stomped off not looking at anyone of us.

"Okay well I guess the bathrooms free now." I walked in and grabbed my clothes. Most of the clothes weren't damp but the misty bathroom had gotten the tie I was supposed to wear today moist. Great, I got this stupid tie that was probably worth more than my entire wardrobe wet. I hoped it dried before anyone noticed it. I started to walk out of the bathroom when I caught myself in the mirror. I hadn't been able to see myself before, but now the mirror was no longer fogged and I saw myself clearly. Damn, I looked good. Bella was right. This fancy gray suit and white buttoned down shirt made me look sharp. I knew it would look better after I put on the tie. I walked out of the bathroom and threw my clothes in my room "Hey Bells wanna tie my tie for me?"

"You don't know how to tie a tie?" She asked incredulously.

"Nope, not really." I wasn't ashamed to admit it. The fanciest clothes I'd ever gotten was a clipon tie.

"Okay whatever just come over here." I smiled and rushed over to her and got on my knees. "Haha very funny Jake but next time you'll to tie your tie yourself."

"That's okay I don't plan on wearing a tie again." I smiled at her but then Edward muttered something about a wedding. " Well ya I guess if I go to anymore weddings I'll wear this but I don't think anyone else I know will be getting married anytime soon."

"What do you categorize as soon?" Edward asked. I tried to read his face but before I could answer Nessie came out of her room.

"The party can start now. I'm here!" She exclaimed with pure excitement.

She caught sight of me and her jaw dropped. But she quickly closed it and said, "Alice did a good job of picking that suit for you. You look really really…hot!"

"Thanks." I felt myself blush a little that sounded really strange coming from Nessie's mouth. I looked over her and saw she was wearing that pink dress. It only had a sleeve on one shoulder and it looked like it could have been a dress that just came off a runway. Either way she looked great in anything she wore so I returned the compliment. "You look pretty great yourself."

She smiled and then I saw she was wearing makeup. It didn't look bad on her but it was just a surprise. She never wore make up but I guess this was a special occasion so it shouldn't surprise me. It was a girl thing but still she didn't need that much or any.

"Honey you're wearing makeup!" Bella exclaimed in a joyous tone. "Your Auntie Alice would want to see you like this, it's a shame she's not here."

"Don't feel bad. Alice has already seen her wearing makeup." Edward said.

"Yeah, wrapped in my dress I found a bag full of makeup" Her eyes lit up as she explained the story. "There were so many things. I had to experiment with them all but then you guys wanted to use the bathroom so I had to rush out and stop trying all of them out." She ended her story in a sigh.

"But you look gorgeous honey. You're just growing up so fast." Bella said with a sentimental look on her face.

"Aw. Mommy I'm not growing up that fast remember Carlisle said my growing process has significantly slowed down and when we get back from the wedding you can help me experiment and learn how put on all this stuff." Nessie then gave her mom a hug. Edward watched them admiringly. I felt awkward intruding on their special family moment, so I walked outside the front door to wait for them.

They walked outside the door soon enough and we were off in Edward's silver Volvo to the wedding. When we arrived in the backyard wedding, we were greeted and rushed by Bella's mom, Renee. She was the opposite of what I imagined Bella's mom to be. She was frantic and loud while Bella was calm and quiet. Bella's stepdad was also there. I think his name was Paul. He seemed cool he counteracted Renee's crazyiness. Renee assigned Nessie and me to put out chairs then she left us in hurry to do some other task. I felt sorry that she didn't pay any more attention to Nessie did than she did to me. She had no clue that Nessie indeed was her blood and granddaughter. Edward and Bella thought it would be best if they introduced Nessie as Edward's long lost sister. Although it was sad Renee didn't know she had a granddaughter, I had to agree with their choice. Renee was just way to hectic. I don't think she wouldn't be able to handle the news of her granddaughter, who looked like the average sixteen year old. They had a good story though, Nessie did resemble her father a lot so it looked like they could be siblings.

When Renee was out of sight, Nessie turned around to look at me and smiled. "Want to race?" She asked with excited eyes. She always liked competition. It made her chores a lot more tolerable and now it was just a regular routine whenever she had to do chores.

"Sure." I replied. It made me happy to make her happy.

Then the race of the chairs began. I could have beaten her easily, but as always I let her win. Within five minutes all the white chairs were perfectly and strategically placed around the yard. Renee came back surprised to find Nessie and me playing chair tag. We had nothing else to do so Nessie and I just started running along the top of the chair seats and started to play tag. Renee was so surprised at how fast we worked that she didn't scold at us for running on the chairs. Instead she took us inside the house to where Seth and Leah were setting up tables for the reception later on after the ceremony. Seth was dressed sharply in a black suit. Of course I had to make fun of him. He then looked up at me and found he couldn't make any insult besides, "Well well well don't you look a fancy." Nessie laughed seeing Seth's attempt at an insult fail. Leah looked up and with a small smile forming at the rim of her mouth "You do look quite fancy. What do ya know, kid cleans up good."

"Alice bought me the suit and Nessie that dress." I said not ashamed.

Leah replied back. "That's cool. Raquel bought me this dress." She said while pointing down at her body with a smile. She was wearing a nice dress too. It was yellow and white and brought out the copper of her skin tone.

We went to work setting up the tables inside and putting the food on trays and platters. It was a lot easier to work when Renee and Phil were out of the room because their human speed brought our efficiency rate down. They were so slow and they made this so boring. Nessie and I compensated for the time loss by throwing trays at each other. The rules were as follows: the first one to get hit by a tray or drop it losses. It was a constant game that would be played whenever Phil turned his head away or walked out of the room. So even Seth joined in the game. I lost when I got double teamed and Seth pegged me in the back. I argued with him for bad sportsmanshipm but he didn't care. He called me a sore loser. Jacob Black was not a sore loser and so I let it pass by. In the end, Nessie beat Seth when he was distracted and talking to me. He accused me of foul play but I denied. "Stop being a sore loser." I used the same taunting voice he had used on me.

Everuthing was nearly set up and the crowd was staring to arrive. Since Charlie and Sue hung around with the same crowd they didn't have many people at the wedding just family, friends, counsil members and most of the pack. Most of Sue's girl friends were coincidently mothers of pack members. They were all familiar faces and faces I had seen before. Most of the faces had never seen Nessie or her family before so some stared in awe, while others instinctively took a step back from the Cullens whenever they walked by too close. Edward and Bella were too polite to everyone, in order to ease their aversion. Nessie of course was the center of attention. No one could take their eyes off off her, as usual. At least no one here would try to hit on her. The pack knew she was my imprint and if anyone tried to use a pick up line on her, they would be in serious shit.

I hated when Nessie and I would go out to eat and some retard would try to flirt with her. After they did it though, they magically saw me, as if I hadn't been next to her before, and backed off immediately. It was sickening in more ways than one to watch someone flirt with Nessie. I didn't wanna watch but I had to. I was practically her boy body guard.

The wedding ceremony was traditional American with some Native traditions. Charlie looked a tad awkward like he always did. I wondered if had rehearsed this before. Nessie watched with enthusiasm and anticipation she could barely control herself from bouncing in her seat. I noticed Seth's and my dad's black tuxes matched with Charlie's and the dress Bella was wearing didn't match with the dress Roquel bought Leah but it was yellow and white. Before making any other observations, I saw Nessie begin to cry.

"What's wrong Nessie?" I asked turning my body towards Nessie almost forgetting we were in the midst of a wedding ceremony.

She looked back at me smiling. "I don't know. I mean I'm crying for them. I'm crying because it's so happy." She looked back to them and she shedanother tear. "I know it sounds weird but these are tears of joy."

"Okay sure Nessie." I turned my head back to actually pay attention to the service now. They hadn't gotten to the "I dos" yet and I didn't hear anyone else crying. I scanned my eyes across the room and saw watery eyes but no one crying. Nessie was the only one crying. I payed attention to the service again and the "I dos" were said. Now I heard women shedding tears and lightly blowing their noses. I think even Charlie was crying but I couldn't be too sure from the angle I was at. All in all it was a classic wedding ceremony.

During the reception I walked up to Edward and asked if I could speak with him in private. He followed me to the side of the house where no one was in sight. Non humans would be able to hear our conversation but normal people wouldn't. I tried to keep my thoughts hidden and he got suspicious.

"Edward I thinks it's important if we have a little talk before anything else happens." He smiled at me. I could tell he was just as nervous as I was.

"Okay bud. What's up?" He used the word 'bud' to refer to me, that settled my nerves a bit.

"Okay but you have to promise to loosen up I feel like you're going to rip my head off?"

"Don't worry Jake I'm not going to rip your head if we're just going to talk." He laughed and looked uncomfortable. He wasn't fooling me and I wasn't fooling him with my fake smile.

"You're making me too damn anxious. Just say what you wanted to say Jacob." Ha for once in his life I made him anxious that was a first. When he saw I didn't speak he began a conversation. "Oh, Jacob, the Quiluete ladies are quite creative."

_Huh? _I looked up at him. What the hell was he talking about?

"Well all the mom's seem to be having naughty fantasies about you. Especially Brady's mom, she has a plan to pinch your butt then pass it off as an accident."He let a chuckle out.

_WTF. Why the hell are you telling me this. _My face must have been humorous to him because he let out another chuckle.

"I thought I should just warn you. The next time you walk by her she's going to try and do it, so um just stay always facing her and don't let her see your backside."

This was so awkward. I guess I should feel complimented that all the women were drooling over me but they were moms of the pack. That was wrong on so many levels. I would not feel the same the next time I saw their mothers. _Thanks a lot Edward! Now I'm freaking scared for life. _

"Hey buddy slow down. I was just looking out for you. I didn't want you actually to get scared for your life. Besides that not all of the women here are moms some of the ladies are the daughters." I looked around the house to see if any of the daughters lingered outside. There were few but they were mostly teenagers.

"Edward those girls are way too young to be having fantasies about me. I'm twenty five years old. The moms are cougars and the girls are dreaming." Edward laughed once again even though I had not attempted to be humorous.

"Well I thought this would boost your ego and make your day, but I guess I was terribly mistaken."

His chuckled calmed to a smile and I began to speak. "I just wanted to have this little conversation pertaining to the subject of imprinting and about how". I didn't get to finish my whole question. Bella had swooped in just time before I got to the 'important subject'.

"Edward, uh, the photographer is taking pictures and we need you. After all, we are part of Charlie's family." She said with a smile to me, but she just stared at Edward. I hated when they used they silent communication skills. They left me out of the loop and it wasn't just me who hated it, everyone did. Bella and Edward could just read each other's mind but just looking into each other's eyes without the help of mindreading or shield lifting.

They both started walking away after a brief silent discussion.

"Okay bye!" _rude silent eye-communicating leeches._ Edward cocked his back to look at me with his stupid crooked grin and gave me a wave goodbye. He then stalked away with Bella who was clearly not happy for something Edward had done. I huffed in anger. Seriously Bella had to take Edward away before I even finished my question. It took a lot of guts for me to ask that question, I knew Edward never wanted Nessie to know about imprinting until she was an adult.

I walked back around the house to the reception and saw Leah. She was still here and I was glad. Our deal we made only promised she would stay for the ceremony but it was the reception and she was still here. She seemed happy and like she was having. I went up to talk to her.

"Hey Leah, can we talk?" She looked around and said excused herself from all the people she was entertaining. She was almost as much the life as the party as Nessie was. People enjoyed this new Leah that reminded them so much of the old one.

"Wow Jake you better have a good reason for pulling me out the center of that crowd. Did you see me they were practically my entourage? I've never been the center of anything like that in my life." She said smiling so jubilantly she was almost glowing.

I smiled at her reaction. "I wanted to say thanks."

"Thanks? That's why you pulled me out of that huge crowd? That's all you wanted to say. Wow Jacob that's so like you." She seemed a little upset but I knew she was most teasing.

"Ya pretty much and I knew you didn't have to stay past the ceremony and that's just…that's just great that you did. Everyone's so happy to see and just look at your mom. I know you coming just made her day so much more special." I knew I sounded cheesy but it was the truth.

"Jake look how happy I am. I am so glad I let your sorry ass convince me into coming, though I mostly did it for Seth. I'd do anything for him." She said with a voice that was exuberant and grateful. She then took a step closer to me and wrapped both her arms around me. I wasn't used to full on bear hugs except from Emmett who occasionally gave me on while lifting me up in the air to crack my back. I didn't exactly know what to do in a situation like this so I just lightly put my arms around her back.

She smiled back to me and said pointing her nose up, "I must be getting back to my people." She spun around to walk back to the beverage table when she gasped audibly. I ran to her side quickly to see what had happened to her. She had a blank stare on her face with her mouth a little open from shock. I turned my head to see where she was looking and saw Sam walking in through the front door with Emily. Oh no all my greatest fears were realized. Leah was going to snap and her happiness that once consumed her would be replaces by the hate she harbored not too long ago. We had taken two steps forward and now we had taken three steps back. This sucked. I felt so bad for Leah before when she was mean even though I didn't feel compassionate for her. But now that I knew the kind, smiling Leah, guilt washed inside me. I was the one who brought her here and now she was going to suffer along with everyone else. I was coaxing her shoulders when she finally was able to speak.

"I-I I'm fine Jacob stop being such a…watch where those huge hands of yours are going." She tried to use sarcasm but he voice was so uneven and stuttering that her remark was not humorous.

I dropped my hands from her shoulders, not wanting to upset her. That was the last thing I wanted to do.

"Sorry were late Sue but we had to drive down from the Makah reservation and Quil just didn't want to say bye to Claire." I heard Sam's billowing voice from the front of the house. I walked Leah outside the back door into the back yard just as Sam caught sight of her. Nessie greeted us outside looking for the cause of our dismay and then she saw Sam. The look of anger and disgust on Nessie face was inmeasurable. We really needed to talk about the whole imprinting ordeal soon. But not right now, I didn't care if she hated Sam as of this moment.

Nessie then saw me coaxing Leah and said she could took take over. I let her comfort leah because even though she didn't know Leah she seemed genuinely sad for her. I went up to say hi to Quil, who seemed a little down.

"Hey, man."

"Hey Jake." Quil sighed. Oh brother he had just been Claire and look at him now. He would never have been able to spend five days away from his imprint.

"Hi Jake." Sam greeted. All the adortion and gratefulness I felt for him the night before I left to search for Leah was gone. Now he kinda just pissed me off like he did to Nessie, even though I knew the secret of imprinting.

"Hey Sam. Hi Emily" I tried to conceal my feelings towards them by acting friendly. I usually wasn't one to hide my emotions but I really didn't want the pregnant wife of Sam thinking I hated her. That wouldn't be good at all.

"Did I see Leah walking outside?" Sam asked.

"Yeah but I don't think you should see her." I said with a little too much edge that Sam looked at me.

"Well I think I should." Before I could stop him he was already walking out of the room with his long strides.

I walked after him trying to catch up with him before he got to Leah but I was too late. He was approaching Nessie and Leah who looked to be in a deep conversation with Nessie. I quickly wondered what they were talking about. But then I focused back to the main point, Sam tapped Leah on the shoulder and I saw Nessie's eyes narrow. Then I saw Nessie get up and flip her hair over her shoulder and walk away. She had learned that from Barbie. Now Leah and Sam were alone, what was going to happen? Crap!

Nessie walked up to me and crossed her arms over her chest. We both watched them carefully making sure to break them up at the first sign of distress. Sam finally got up and walked away. Leah looked fine she like he hadn't even effected her. Edward walked up to me and must of heard what was happening in Leah's head.

"Is she alright? She looks alright on the outside but you never know." I asked.

"Ya she's fine. She's focusing on something else so she can keep her mind off Sam and she also practicing some yoga breathing. She wasn't able to do yoga this morning so she's trying to do it in that dress of hers."

"Is she approachable?" I asked.

"No I think we should all stop looking at her, she feels us watching her. Wait for her to approach you." He turned his head and walked away.

Nessie and I both turned our heads away.

Nessie surprised me she was as worried about Leah as I am. Sam walked over to us, I could tell Nessie's body was tense as much as mine was.

He approached us and before he even he fully reached us he started talking. "Hey Jake. Woah Nessie your huge like a plant." Nessie didn't appreciate Sam's hello and raised her eyebrows in his direction. "Uh…When did you get this big are you fully grown?" Nessie shook her head and so did I, except I had anger in my shake. I glared at Sam hoping he would receive the message loud and clear. He did and atomatically took a step back from me. The Alpha power was really strong.

"No I guess I'm still a kid. Why does everyone ask me how old I am?" Nessie looked somewhat puzzled. It seemed everyone at the wedding had asked how old she was. She would reply to them that she was only sixteen and everyone would believe her cover story. She was Edward long lost sister. No one doubted their resemblance so no one doubted the situation.

"Well" Sam suddenly looked uncomfortable talking to Nessie. "Well you just looked so big since the last time I saw you. You know I haven't seen you in a while. Emily will be so excited to see you. Emily." He signaled Emily's attention and she was only more than happy to approach Nessie and I. I could see her barely there baby bump. She rushed over and embraced Nessie and I. I could see Nessie stiffen as Emily embraced her. Aw Crap. Nessie still craved blood and it was hard enough to be surrounded by a bunch of humans besides the wolves and family members. I hovered protectively over her waiting and watching seeing if she would need me to restrain her. She held her breath and so did I. Emily let go and then Nessie was able to relax so I did as well. "Hi Nessie you look so gorgeous and big. I feel like I haven't seen you in forever." She turned to me and looked me up in down. I was glad she only had eyes for one man or that would have been really awkward. "You look good too Jake. Have you heard?" She cradled her belly and then I involuntarily shuddered at the memory. "Oh right I forgot sorry." She crinkled her nose at the memory as well.

I pulled her in for a hug and said, "You haven't seen me in forever cause you're too busy starting a family." I heard Nessie gasp. She must be let down because I can be in close proximity with other humans and she could barely stand it. I let go of Emily quickly and she took her rightful side by Sam.

"Well we'll see you kids later we got to pay the bride and groom a visit." Emily said with a smile and started walking off to some people. Sam hovered as he passed by Leah. He waited until Emily was in conversation with some girls her age then walked slowly towards Leah. I was so pissed. I didn't want Sam to ruin Leah's happy countenance. She was doing some relaxation breathing. She looked so peaceful but I couldn't do anything I was too shocked to move. Nessie expressed myself better than I did when she let a growl slip her mouth. It wasn't loud enough for anyone to notice besides the vamps and pack. Edward wooshed to our side.

"Calm down Nessie. You too Jake, you can't do anything just let Sam talk to Leah. She seems fine right now and I don't see anything hurtful or anything that would offend Leah in his head." Did Edward forget that Leah was extremely fragile beneath her tough look? He of all people should have known how soft and delicate she was. One little thing was she needed to drive her back to her crazy state. I inhaled a deep breath.

"Leah?" I heard Sam voice as I watched him with pieceing eyes across the room. I wasn't the only audience member all the pack was watching them but there were slightly more subtle than I was. I exhaled my deep breath.

Leah whipped up her head. "Hey Leah I just saw you at the door but I didn't say hi to you so I decided to come over."

Leah just shook her head up and down she looked calm but you didn't have to be mind reader to see how much restrait she had whether she wanted to cuss Sam out or just run away and cry. She finally was able to use her words. "Hi…" I could see her trying to open her mouth and form the word 'Sam' but she couldn't do it.

Sam saw her and felt pity for her. "I wanted to see how you were doing I heard you were actually living up somewhere in Canada." He said his words carefully waiting for a reaction. I was so distressed and hated not being able to do anything. I should be able to intervene I am the Alpha. Although Sam no longer does any of the wolf stuff anymore, I still had power over him since I was the true Alpha.

I rushed over to them a little too fast for human speed. I didn't care I had to make this better Leah was still a member of my pack, whether Sam wasn't. I had to protect her. "Hey guys have you had any cake yet. They cut it and I was gunna go get some before the pack gets a hold of it." I forced a smile on my face hoping they would fall for my attempt at politeness.

"Uh thanks Jake but…I can get my own cake thank you very much" Leah stalked off trudging to the house to get her piece of cake. Even though her exit was quite dramatic, I could see she wasn't truly mad. She looked more nervous as she ran into the house rather than angered. I hoped she was okay. I looked at Sam and walked off. I couldn't deal with him right now and my hands were slightly trembling but when Nessie grabbed my hand and told me everything was fine I immediately calmed down.

I looked over Nessie's head trying to check on Leah but Nessie held me and told me stop because she was fine and I was worrying too much. Edward was there to reassure me and I was startled by the close proximity he was to me. He had sneaked up on me and I hadn't even noticed.

"Jake I've read her mind and she's fine. She controlled herself quite…well. Compared to her self control from last time she had confrontation I was surprised she handled herself so well." He smiled almost in admiration. "You know she sometimes reminds of Seth. I see where he gets it from, but of cours, Seth thoughts are much purier." He smiled now in an amused laugh.

"Ya you didn't need to need to be a mind reader of have wolf telepathy to know that." I laughed and Nessie pulled me towards the seat we set up outside for the ceremony. She pulled me to a seat.

"Jake seriously you need to relax. Leah is seriously making you so uptight about everything. She is fine and one tough chick. Relax." She started to massage my overly tense neck. "Take a nap. You deserve it."

I huffed out a huge sigh and said "Okay." Then I dosed off looking at the gazebo where Charlie and Sue had been married the yellow lilies were intertwined throughout the structure until my vision blurred and became one yellow haze. The yellow and white were quite soothing and all my worries of Leah, the pack, being the best possible Alpha, Nahuel, Edward treating me weird then acting like we were best friends, and Nessie and her tantrums and age disappeared.

**Comment, Comment, comment. If I get more comments I'll post chapters sooner and if I don't get comments it'll be the opposite. So comment! :P**


	6. Chapter 6

6. Bloodlust and Lust

Renesmee Cullen P.O.V

It felt strange caring for Jacob rather than him caring for me, but I liked it. I massaged Jacob's neck until I heard his quiet snores begin. I stood there above him, thinking not so proper thoughts. O how I loathed when my mind would wander. I knew daddy could hear my every though, but no matter what I could never restrain myself from thinking of Jacob. My Jacob.

I let out a sigh.

Jacob, my love, my best friend, if only you knew. My many attempts at telling Jacob how I felt had failed miserably. To add to the list of shameful mistakes, last night I took a new approach to getting Jake. I tried to seduce him. Since I had no seductive skills, I tried to direct his attention to my body. Guys liked girls in skimpy clothing, so I assumed my plan would be successful. The downfall in my plan: Jacob still only sees me as a "kiddo". I am not a child though, so I will continue to pursue him. I'm well developed beyond my true age, I'm wearing makeup now, and Auntie Alice bought me a bra. I'm old enough for him; everyone can see that except for hm. He's oblivious. I was glad Auntie gave me a bra, I felt mature and respected and that's all I want. Is it too much to ask to be recognized and treated as a freakin' adult? But not even daddy treated me like an adult, though he could read my developed beyond my years mind.

I let out another sigh.

In the pit of my core I secretly hoped and wished that Jacob saw me as an adult, but all of my hopes and dreams were crushed last night. When I tried to seduce him, I expected him to look at me. He barely noticed my presence when I walked into the room. He only saw my wet hair and claimed I would catch a cold if I didn't dry it soon. (If he was any other guy he would be ogling over me… that was a difference with Jake.) As if I wasn't a half vampire hybrid, I doubt I would even catch a cold from exposure of a few minutes of a damp hair. Preposterous, at least the gesture demonstrated he cared. Back to my point, Jake totally missed the significance of my wet hair. It was meant to be sexy and wild, a "turn on". Sadly it completely misfired. My plan backfired and we ended up having an argument. The first argument I remember ever experiencing. To add, he hadn't even noticed my tight shirt and barely-there shorts that Alice classified as cute. Worst of all, my attempt at a sexual insinuation was completely and entirely a bust. Of all people I thought he would know that survival axiom.

When I mentioned Nahuel's name, I saw the pain in Jacob's eyes and stopped. He never liked Nahuel, even in my earliest memories. Jake was angered because I had worn my revealing pajama outfit in front of Nahuel. When I had worn them, Nahuel checked me out several times in my outfit so I hoped the outfit would have the same affected on Jake. I felt guilty about using Nahuel as my experimental test rat. In all honesty it flattered me how Nahuel was always looking me up and down, but I only had eyes for Jake. He was the only man I would pay attention to or care about. My Jake, oh Jake, I only wanted you to see me as an adult and instead we engage in our first fight. I let a silent tear fall out of my eye in my silent suffering and it landed in Jake's hair below.

I held my breath and was glad when Jake did not rouse. I wiped my blurry eyes. God, why am I so emotional lately? I never cry, until lately. When my eyes were cleared I focused on Jake's perfectly unkempt hair. His hair was so sexy even though it was cropped so short. He was so attracting, I couldn't help but run my fingers through his hair. With my hands I was extra careful not to apply to much pressure and ran my hands carefully on both sides of his head. I brought my hands down to the back of his head and to his neck and suit collar. I felt for his tie and loosened it. Ever so slightly, I used all my stealth vampire skill to quickly loosen it without out him noticing. I did it and as a result my hands somehow wondered and extended to broad of his fascinating chest.

Mmmm.

I leaned down towards him so I could reach farther across the expanse of his vast torso. Then I smelled him. He smelled so good. _Oh no! _Why did I have to think of his scent? He smelled so amazing to me I could just... I resisted against my instincts to bite him and jumped a few feet back. Now I was fully aware of my surroundings and all the humans that inhabited it. My throat burned as I saw them pass in my vision. The weak little Quileute people walking around and causally talking had no had no idea what I was capable of accomplishing. If only they knew I had bloodlust as well as a human appetite. My mind was still in a primitive state and I saw some easy prey separated from the rest of the party. They were two teens and they would be…they were teens like me. I slowly began to regain control of myself and before I could loosen my stance Dad and Mom were already by my side._ Shit! I mean_ _Damn it! I mean Dang it! Shoot. Jake is going to ride me for that one._

My dad suddenly hissed very audibly. _Dad I wasn't going to do anything, I promise. I regained control off myself. I'm sorry I worried you and mom. _I peeked up at him through my eyelashes. I was too ashamed to look him directly in the eye. Dad never lost his composure over human blood since I'd been alive and mom never lusted for humans except for the duration of her first hour as a vampire and that didn't count because she stopped herself midway attack. My parents were perfect vegetarians. I, on the other hand was the only one who ever concocted ways to kill my…kill innocent people.

"Nessie it's all right. Honey please." He grabbed me and pressed me into his wintry embrace. I shuddered and dad let his arms go, but I held him tight. "Nessie I know you were not going to harm anyone. I'm solely here for support. The only bloodlust you've ever acted upon was Jacob but you know I don't mind that one." He smiled at me but I couldn't understand why Daddy allowed me to bite Jacob ever since I was little. His adversity to him was not very noticeable but present nevertheless. When I caught him saying things negatively about and towards Jacob it made me angry.

I looked up to him batting my eyes a few times to sweeten his mood. "Dad and can you please not be angry at Jake." I batted my eyelashes a few more times in order to sway him.

He sighed and I knew I had won this battle. He grabbed the bridge of his nose. "Nessie I can't…when did you start to cuss? Is Jake to blame for your sudden change of vocabulary?"He looked me sternly. He was scolding me in quite quick whispers.

"Daddy no! Jacob is not to blame. It's not his fault. Please just forget about. I don't want him to find out or else he'll ride…" I was screaming too, a little louder than my father had, when he interrupted me.

"Or else he'll ride you! Is that it?" He said in a screaming whisper that was louder than mine. His face was masked with this indescribable expression on his face. I looked at him bewildered then noticed the double connotation of my words.

I reached up for his face. "_Oh daddy I'm so so sorry. I didn't understand and I didn't know. Please just forgive me and please please please forgive Jakey. It's not his fault…"_ Before I could continue he pulled my hand away.

"Nessie I forgive you and I forgive Jake but there are consequences now I'm not so sure I would like to you to spend the nights alone with Jake anymore. I cannot trust the influences he poses upon you when you two are not supervised." Before I could rebuttal his claims he shushed me. "No Nessie. No buts, no auguring, no nothing do you understand."

I shook my head even though I wanted to explode and argue back. But I couldn't do that I had already caused enough heart ache on my dad today. Poor old man trapped forever until the end of time in the form of a seventeen year old boy. Daddy knew all my thoughts surrounding Jacob and my very restless and barely concealed feelings towards him. I decided to spare him the argument tonight and comply with his wishes? I would do it tonight and only tonight. Tomorrow I would feel less guilty about arguing with him.

**Chapter over! I know it was short but thanks for reading! **** Comment! How did you like Nessie's p.o.v.?**


	7. Chapter 7

Ch.7

Nessie's P.O.V.

Staring at my father through the silence was the perfect example of an awkward moment. His gaze was intent on me, yet unemotional. To the rest of the party my father looked stoic, but within his mind I knew he was dreadfully busy dissecting my thoughts and feelings. Usually I guarded my thoughts, I hid them cautiously and well. But as of this moment, my mind was still too excited from my verbal quarrel with my father to bother with the simple effort of diverting my thoughts. Now I began to worry, because whenever dad learned something new about me through my thoughts he no doubtedly told my mom. If Dad knew about my feelings toward Jacob, which I'm sure he had discovered by now, mom would know as well. No matter what is the subject was, dad always told my mother every little inconsequential thing that occurred within my brain.

"Nessie are you wearing a bra?"

Speak of the devil and she shall appear. My mom's voice rocked me out of my trance.

"Sorry mom, I didn't hear what you said. What did you say?"

"I asked if you are wearing a bra. Are you wearing a real one, not premature training bra but a real bra with wire?" My mom blinked with wide eyes focusing from my bust to my face.

I groaned. This was especially embarrassing conversation to have in front of public. "Mom can we not talk about this here.",I whispered. My mom, opposite me was not whispering. Unfortunately, she was speaking louder than normal. I beseeched her,"Can we talk about this when we go home and were not surrounded by people!". My request came out more loudly than I had expected. Jake, who was asleep in his chair, awoke at once and managed to fall backwards against the ground.

He groaned, but he shed away his clumsiness and was off the ground wide awake in less than a second. I noticed my mom looked at Jake with an accusing look. I assumed with that look that now dad had gotten mom to join him in the "anti-Jacob" cause. I resented her for her horrible stare towards my Jacob. A crime against him is a crime against me.

Jake stood up looking perfect and poised, despite the fact that his momentarily lapse of clumsy disorientation had just occurred a second ago. I'm sure the suit he was wearing added the affect of self-assurance to his appearance and produced the unachievable look of sangfroid he now displayed. I would have to remember to thank Aunt Alice in person. Jake looked like a tall drink of handsomeness in his designer grey suit and skinny loosened tie. Inevitably I wasn't the only one that noticed his attractiveness. All the women at the party kept taking quick glances at Jake. I know I should not be jealous in the slightest means but I couldn't help myself. Quileute mothers were looking at Jake! Can you say cougars? Jake had practically grown up from a baby to man under their watch. How could they look at him like that without feeling sick? That was just sick, they were all sick. A thought occurred to me, my thoughts about these women applied to my life. Jacob had been next to me ever since I was a baby; he had seen me grow up. He would never see me any other way, he was no creep. I sighed.

"Nessie, what happened?" Jake was alert. It looked funny how his muscled tensed under his grey suit. I thought it might be a possibility that it would tear.

"No it's nothing to be concerned about Jake. Take your nap again."

My dad interceded into my conversation with Jake. "Actually the reception is almost over and Jake you need to drive your dad home. He got a lift with Charlie over to the house, but now he needs to catch a ride with someone else. Besides, if you make it back in time you'll be able to show your car off to everyone.". Dad smiled amused at Jake's expression after his last comment. I didn't need to see the excitement on Jake's face to feel it.

"Yes! I've been waiting forever to show it off! No one ever sees my car. It just lies around, covered up in the garage." Jake's huge smile and excitement faded as he saw the disappointed on my face. Quickly, I evaporated my disappointment with a smile. "Are you guys gunna be here when I come back?" He asked hopefully.

Dad answered solemnly, "No."

"It's okay Jake. We will catch up tomorrow and you can tell me about everyone's reaction when they see your car". I feigned a smile to sweeten the deal.

Jake hesitantly spoke, "Okay…well if you say so". Then he grabbed me and pulled me up tight into a giant bear hug and kissed my forehead. "Bye Nessie. See ya tomorrow."

Jake huddles my parents into a group hug. It was a funny scene to watch. Mom and Dad looked uncomfortable. Jake never hugged dad. The only person who ever attempted to bear hug my parents at the same time was Uncle Emmet. Uncle Emmett would want me to take a picture, if only he could this, two vampires and a huge werewolf in a group hug. I accidently laughed aloud and Jake released hold of my parents and ran off to the forest. Before he disappeared into the trees Jake gave me a wink, I became putty. The spot where he had kissed my forehead tingled.

When we got home I got ready for bed. I brushed my teeth took off my makeup and put on regular pajamas. As I passed out of the bathroom I heard my parents having a discussion. They always talked during the night when I went to bed but this night it seemed like they were arguing. Mom and dad didn't raise their voices, but they seemed to be in opposition towards each other's opinions. I listened as I walked into my room and closed the door silently.

I listened. Mom was talking. I couldn't make out much of what they were saying because their voices were too low for me to hear. But I did hear my name, that was enough to keep my attention. I tried to listen even more. I pressed my ear onto my door, as if that would help. I caught another word, "imprinting". That's a weird word. I wondered how the discussion they were having pertained to me and was it so secretive. I don't remember making or leaving any marks or dents lately. If they were talking about imprints I was completely innocent.

I decided to give up on my attempts of eavesdropping. I hadn't been able to make out another would after "imprinting" but I knew my mom had stopped talking and my father had begun. I gave up and started to put my makeup neatly away. The makeup bag Auntie had bought me was black and white, very sophisticated, very Alice. I adored it. Auntie Alice could read my mind better than daddy. As I stuffed my makeup in to the open space of the bag, I found a white piece of paper lining the bottom of the bag. I rummaged to the bottom of the bag and took it out to examine. It was a note from Auntie Alice.

It read:

Dear Renesmee,

You are becoming quite the young lady. Although I can barely see your future past a certain point, it is obvious what you are about to experience. I don't know if you remember exactly all that we taught you in biology and the changes a girl goes through in order to becoming a woman. I hope you do. But if you don't, don't fret. Auntie is always here to help. I sent a movie in the mail to the big house. It should be arriving the day you read this letter. I hope it helps and I hope you loved the dress, makeup, and bra. I trust you wore everything I bought you?

Love always,

Aunt Alice

I gasped. All the dots in my head connected. My mood swings and sudden attraction to Jacob were simply explained by my hormones. I was going through puberty! My training bras and sports bras were not going to cut it anymore. I would have boobs soon! I knew I was maturing and this was proof or at least there would be proof soon. I started to check myself for signs of maturity. I unhooked my bra and looked at the label. It was a size 32B. I checked the rest of my body and noticed my leg hairs were growing longer. I needed to buy a razor next time I went to town. My hips also looked a little wider than normal but I couldn't be too sure. I didn't look taller and I hoped I wouldn't grow taller. I passed my mom and Auntie Alice years ago and recently passed Auntie Rose. I was taller than all my aunts and I didn't want to grow anymore. I was too tall. I would describe my body type as very lean. My quick growth sped up my metabolism so I was very slim. I was also muscular. I wished my body was more feminie. My thighs were thicker than I would like and my abs and arms were softly sculpted. (Keeping up with vampires definitely kept the body in shape.) But maybe it was too much for my thin body. Most people thought I was a dancer because of my general muscle mass from head to toe. I was not a dancer and I did not want people to see muscles when they looked at me.

I pictured myself with hips and breast. I would look perfect just like Aunt Rose. Then Jake would notice me because I would look like a woman. I wondered if my zany ridiculous crush on him would be over by the time I finished puberty. It didn't feel like it would be, however I was under the influence of womanly hormones. I decided to go bed to take my mind off the hype that filled my every thought.

When I awoke, I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I hated my breath after eating human food. It retained to stench even the day after. My parents were still sitting in the living room talking quietly when I awoke.

"Nessie, darling, could you please tell me why Alice sent this in the mail to Grandpa's house?" Daddy held up a disc as he questioned me.

I rubbed my eyes, I was still tired. I couldn't fall asleep last night because my mind was too preoccupied. "Uh, I think that's for me. Aunt Alice said I was going through…stages" I didn't want to say the word puberty. It sounded weird in front of my parents.

"Nessie it's okay to say the word." My mom comforted me. Lately it seemed everyone else could read my mind besides my dad.

"Did you guys already watch the DVD?"

"No, we were waiting for you to watch it with or without us. It's your choice." Mom was so sweet. She always tried to please and adhere to my needs.

"I think I want to watch it now…but not with daddy in the room." I looked at him guiltily. I hoped he understood.

"I understand sweetheart. It's a girl thing." He pecked my mom on the cheek and repeated the same to me, and then he rushed out the door. I didn't want him that to go far away but maybe it was better if he couldn't hear my thoughts during the video. _"Thanks daddy"_ I thought. I hoped he was still close enough to hear that.

Mommy led me into Jake's guest room. His room was the only one with a TV and Blu-Ray player. She popped in the DVD and started it in record time. The movie was simply titled "My Changing Body". It was tacky but understandable. It was perfect for keeping my attention and giving me information at the same time.

"Do you have any questions?" My mom asked when the movie ended.

"Is it normal for me to start my development so late?" In the movie it said a girl could begin puberty as early as the age of nine. I was sixteen physically, so was that bad?

"Sweetie you're half vampire and half human and you're actual age is six. Carlisle said it would be perfectly normal for you to start your puberty now. Everything is normal." Grandpa knew! This was embarrassing but grandpa was the only person who could be my physician.

"Momma, am I going to get a menstrual cycle?" I asked shyly.

"We don't know. You might, you might not. Sometimes a girl gets her period last or first, but because you grow at a rapid rate we cannot be sure."

"Mom One more question. Once I've finished puberty will I be an adult?"

"Yes I suppose so." I hoped my puberty didn't last long. I knew it last years for regular human but I wanted it to be over quick so I could become an adult.

"Thanks mom." I thanked her, though most of questions remained unanswered. "Can you tell daddy he can come back now."

"Yeah sweetie, I'll go get him. Jake is with him so you should probably get dressed."

"Okay." I rushed off to my room and used my vampire speed to get dressed quick. It was hard to find a good shirt that fit over my newly formed breasts. I eventually settled for a v-neck that I rarely wore. I hated the v-neck because I thought it revealed too much. But to my misfortune, it was the only thing that fit me so I tugged over my head. I debated whether to put makeup on my face and decided just to put mascara on my eyelashes. I ran outside and just sat on the couch waiting for my family and my Jacob to return.

**Thanks for reading! Thanks for the reviews. Please continue to comment. Comments keep me going.**


	8. Chapter 8

I'm a Woman

Nessie's P.O.V

Everyone entered a few seconds afterwards. I sat on the couch. I hoped I looked okay. "Morning Jake." I beamed.

He smiled back a huge grin that warmed my heart. I could never resist his perfect white smile. "Morning Nessie"

"Hey I want to hear what happened yesterday after we left. How'd the res react when they saw your corvette."

His eyes got wide. "It was too good to be true. Everyone freaked out. They couldn't believe that was my baby but I reassured them all it was."

"Did you just refer to an inert as your 'baby'?"

"Yes I did." Jake answered proudly.

I laughed and so did my mom. "What ever happened to the rabbit?" My mom asked curiously.

"Oh that's old news Bells. I gave it to Seth years ago." He answered with a devilish smile. "I thought vamps knew everything."

"Well I do." Edward raised his hand as if guilty on trial. Everybody laughed except for me. I hated my dad knowing every thought and everything. I could never lie or do anything mischievous because my dad knew what I was thinking.

My throat burned. "Jake care to have another race? I'm thirsty." I smiled sheepishly.

"Sure of course Nessie."

He let me win again. My deer was huge and his was small. A animal as big as that curved my appetite, but yet my craving wasn't settled. I still thirsted for something. When we got back to the house I smelled the Doritos in his room. I wanted them. I never ate Doritos before but they smelled so good.

"Jake can I have some of your Doritos?"

Everyone looked at me confused. Jake answered me back. "Yeah sure Ness. You can eat anything."

He got the chips for me and I devoured them. They tasted so good. I finished the entire bag in a matter of minutes.

Jake stared at me with wide eyes. "Are you full Nessie?"

I felt blown up but my craving was settled. "Yup I'm good."

I lifted myself off the couch in the living room and felt a cramp in my stomach. I fell down back to the couch.

"Are you okay Nessie?" Jake asked holding my hand.

"Yeah. I think I just ate too much. It hurts to stand."

"Do you wanna lie down and watch TV in my room?"

"Sure that sounds fantastic." I loathed watching TV but if I could cuddle up to Jake it would be worth it.

I walked to his room ignoring the slight pain in my lower abdomen. We watched TV together peacefully. I was wedged in his side listening to his steady heart beating. I drowned out the noise of the TV and listened to the beats of his heart. Lub lub dub lub dub. I could listen to his heart all day. It was my sacred song.

Dad walked in and ruined my perfect moment. I didn't move away from Jake's warm side. My dad scanned me quickly. "Nessie are you…"

Jake pulled away quickly and finished my dad's thought. "Bleeding?" Jake scanned me.

I scanned myself too. I checked my arms and legs and saw no cuts. I sniffed the air. There was definitely a blood scent and it was coming from me. I felt wet. "Mom!"

Mom rushed to my side attentively. "What is it Renesnee?"

"I think…I think it's time." I hoped my mom understood my words. I didn't want to give too much information with Jacob in the room.

Mom saved the day. "Edward, Jacob, do you mind leaving me alone with my daughter."

"No. What happened? I can help." Jacob was frantic as he grabbed me and clutched me into his huge arms.

"Jake I-don't think-you-want to help…-me with this." I said through short breathes. Jake was squeezing me too tight. "Let go plea-se."

"Oh sorry." He released his hold on me. He grabbed my face and directed it so I could look up in his eyes. "I want to help you with anything and everything." _Ahhh_ I was putty in his big hot hands.

"Jacob, take a walk with me. Bella needs to be alone with her daughter. I'll explain later." Jacob nodded. Oh No. Dad is going to tell Jacob I started my menstrual cycle. That's just peachy. My dad led Jacob out of the room. I could see Jacob had his thinking face on before he left. His dark brows were slightly pulled together. He only did that when he was thinking hard.

I rushed to the bathroom with my mom to the rear of me. I pulled down my pants and saw red. Blood. I couldn't believe it. I was expecting to not get a period. I was half vampire for crying out loud that didn't make sense. I looked at my mom's face to see her expression. She looked totally relaxed. Okay that was good the blood wasn't making her uncomfortable.

She looked back at me horrified. My heart skipped a beat. "We don't have pads!" She exclaimed. I sighed in relief. She looked at me seriously. "Nessie this is a problem. I guess we need to go to town and stock up. Your dad and I can't be seen in forks but Jake can." Oh Hell no. "Jake could go get some while your father and I wait here with you."

"Mom no! Jake cannot go get my pads. Do you know how embarrassing that is!"

"Nessie calm down. You're going to give yourself an anxiety attack. Jake said he wanted to help and he'll do anything for you. You've known Jake since the day you were born. Sweetheart, he's seen you grow and change through your entire life. Don't be embarrassed sweetheart."

Ugh! Mom's word didn't help but what other choice did I have. I didn't have any other friends beside the wolves. "Wait, mom, I can have Leah get me some! Do we have her number? Oh wait that's a stupid question." I laughed. "She's my step auntie . Mom isn't that good! I can have my aunt get me some pads. That's perfectly normal I'm sure regular teens do that." I was so happy I was nearly bouncing. The thought of something in my life that was normal overjoyed me. I was the opposite of normal. Everything I did was complicated and wrong. "Please! Please! Please mommy can we call Aunt Leah!"

My mom's face slowly turned into a bright smile. "I think I like that idea. Okay I'm going to go call their house phone and see if they answer." My mom flashed away and I heard the sound of key tones as she dialed.

She came back a few minutes and saw me sitting helplessly on the toilet. "Oh Nessie I'm sorry. Leah and Jake are on their way to the drug store to get you some pads."

"Jake! I thought only Leah was going. I thought that was what we agreed on." I frowned.

"Oh Nessie, I'm sorry Jake insisted on driving Leah into town."

So much for normalcy, I didn't want Leah and my Jake shopping alone together. I especially didn't want them together shopping for my sanitary napkins. Hadn't Jake gotten enough of Leah during their little forest hiatus. She was really pretty. What if she liked Jake? What if Jake liked her?

"Don't worry Nessie Jake's family. He's like a big brother."

"Ugh." I grunted. "That's exactly what I'm afraid of!"

"Nessie, what are you talking about? You're making no sense." Mom looked dumfounded.

"Don't play dumb mother. You know exactly what I talking about!"

"Honey don't raise your voice. Tell me why you are so angry."

I was infuriated. "Mother I _like_ Jake!" Mom started to bite her lip. "But you already knew that didn't you." She stared at me but didn't say a word. "Mom?" I said half worried half crazed with anger.

"Yes I did know that." She looked away shamefully. I felt like the parent for once. I was scolding her instead of her scolding me.

"When did the _big mouth_ break the news?" I asked my mom, withholding the vitriolic venom in my voice.

She looked up into my eyes. I felt myself shrink. "He told me the day Jake left." _Ouch._ The memory of Jake leaving hurt,It hurt even worse when I found out why he left and who he left for. "You are out of your place for scolding me. I am the adult here and you are the child. Your father and I have every right to know what you are thinking."

"Dad has no right reading my mind without my consent. Normal teenagers don't have to worry about their fathers reading their every thought." I wish I could just show what I thought. That would make everything easier and end the fight. I reached up to touch her face.

"Renesmee Carlie Cullen, you are no normal teenager. You are a vampire hybrid. Nothing in your life is normal." I dropped my hand and the tears fell. I was sobbing. All I ever strived for was normalcy and now it felt like I would never achieve it. It's one pain to have your dreams crushed. But to have your dreams crushed by your mother is a completely different pain.

I was crushed, crying, bleeding and sitting helplessly on a toilet. I was sure my life couldn't get any worse. I grabbed the toilet paper roll and started dabbing my eyes. The tears overwhelmed my vision. I couldn't tell if my mother was in the room anymore. The tears gushed more as I realized that she was not comforting me. For the first time in my life I felt alone. I hoped the damn hormones were responsible for my emotions. I hated crying almost as much as I hated my mom right now.

I heard the frontdoor swing open. Oh no Dad was back. He better not come in the bathroom.

"Honey, Can I come in?" He asked in his voice of honey. It was irrestitable to say no to. Stupid mind reading, he knew all my weaknesses.

"_I hate you dad." _

"No you don't honey. I can read your mind." I could tell from his voice he was smiling.

"I'm glad you find this amusing Dad because I don't- Ow!" There was a sharp pain in my lowered abdomen. Ugh I really regretted eating all those chips. "Ow ow ow!"

"Nessie what's wrong." I swung my head up. My mom was hovering right beside me.

"My stomach hurts but it's nothing. I just ate too many chips." I tried to convince her it was nothing serious.

_Ow ow ow_. I bent over so my stomach rested on the top of my thighs. I never had this internal pain before it was not normal. I would have to add it to my list of "Why I Will Never Be NORMAL List".

"Wait Nessie I think you are experiencing menstrual cramps." My dad spoke so fast it took me a second to decipher his message.

"Cramps?" It made sense. In the video they explained this all. It said a girl could get her period anywhere form the age of nine to sixteen. I was sixteen, I was on time. The video also said I would have cravings for food. That explained why I thought chips were the most valuable thing on Earth. The video then explained the cramps. I wasn't having weird digestion problems, I was experiencing a cramp. Wow when the video explained this as "discomfort" they didn't do it justice. These cramps were torture. My exterior may be hard as metal but interior was soft and as delicate as a human's.

"Oh no cramps. Do we have any Midol Edward?" My mom paced quickly in front of me.

"No its okay I'm-Ow." I wasn't fooling anyone.

"That's it I'm coming in." My dad busted in and I was happy that I was bent over my legs. At least my dad couldn't see anything inappropriate.

He looked at me seriously. I knew the pain reflected in his eyes were a mirror of my own. I hated my period. I couldn't understand why Aunt Rose wanted one so much. I wondered if she would change her mind if she knew the pain that came with it.

"I'm calling Jake and telling him to pick up some Midol." Before I could object mom had already dialed the numbers.

Jake picked up on the first ring. This was so mortifying. Jake shouldn't have to pick up pads and Midol for me. On second thought, Jake might finally see me as a grown up lady. After all, I was officially a woman. I guess periods weren't all bad. If it would make Jake stop seeing me as a little sister, I could live through these ridiculous cramps.

**Haven't written in awhile, hopefully you guys haven't forgotten about my for reading! Thanks for the reviews. Please continue to comment. Comments keep me going.**


End file.
